Sa Meleth i Amlug That is the Dragon's Love
by Arhani 'Hanny' Daforcena
Summary: A response to a fanfic challenge. Chihiro was not a normal human as she had perceived herself to be. And when she is pursued by an enemy who is after her life-blood, how would Haku, now the God of a lake, protect her? HXC Mostly fluff and action.
1. Prologue

At times she wondered what really happened to Alice after she had returned from Wonderland. Could she return to being a normal "little girl" after having such fantastic adventures with the creatures and beings that she had met? Could she even remember anything that has happened? When Alice was no longer a girl, but a woman, could she even recall that it was nothing less than reality, as opposed to a dream?

When she was but a child of ten, she had been moving from the city into the countryside, for reasons that she had forgotten a long time ago… And her parents had unwittingly took a shortcut into the forest. They stopped before a strange, squat statue, and went into a tunnel.

And with her father taking the first step, they ventured into a realm that no one could ever comprehend.

That fantastically chaotic realm of the Gods and Spirits, that colorful bathhouse filled with danger and splendor, friends, and enemies that she had gained… No, she was wrong, there had been no enemy of hers in the bathhouse, only challenges, for if she remembered clearly, even the hardest of souls to overcome (no pun intended), was a loving mother, even if she had been a cranky witch who had grown callous over her quest for money and power…

There had been a time when Chihiro did not know whether what she had been through had been a dream, or had been true reality. As she grew older, she tried desperately to find that patch of forest lined by small stone shrines and the statues that marked that the tunnel was close. And as the days passed into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years, life caught up with her, and she had abandoned her fruitless quest altogether, but not because she had given up hope. No, far from it.

"My darling girl," her grandmother (her biological one, and not the gentle witch with a wide head whose twin sister had turned her parents into pigs) told her one day when she related her experiences to the aging woman, who had been the only one who listened to and understood her tales. "You have been given a great blessing, make no mistake. However, you must remember that we are mere mortals, who cannot pass the realms of those above us willy-nilly no matter how much we want to. You have already visited once, and they have given you their love. Now, you must be patient, and one day, they would come to you."

Thus, Chihiro looked into her own grandmother's eyes and her lips curled into a smile. Filled with renewed hope, her hand went to touch the purple hair-tie that had been given to her during her escapades in that ream. She hugged her grandmother, thanking for her advice and looked out the window.

The paddy-fields of her grandmother's house was looked just like the great lake before the bath-house… Rolling green, the paddy-stalks bending in the wind like emerald waves.

Yes, one day, she'll see them again. And one day… she'll be with _him _again.

* * *

_"We'll meet again, right?"_

_"We will, I promise…"_

* * *

HAN: Hello there! Arhani Daforcena here! I don't usually write Spirited Away fanfics (most of my works concern Rurouni Kenshin, Blood+ and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2), and I think that my first one, a Narnia/SA crossover was... not one of my best. Well, I wrote this fic as response to a challenge by a friend, but I hope that you guys would enjoy it as well. I was to write a fic within 30 chapters containing a prompt-drawing and the caption: "My life was perfect without you"

Here's a link to the picture concerned just remove the spaces!

http: / i954. photobucket . com / albums / ae23/ dark40rcehan

Enjoy, y'all, and I'll see you on the next update!

PS: Don't ask me why I chose a Sindarin (the Elvish language of the Lord of the Rings) title for this fic, I felt like it just fits. Anyways, if the grammar is wrong could anyone please correct it? Thanks!


	2. The Dragon's Freedom

"_My name, Witch, is Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi," he told Yubaba the very moment that precious girl left through the tunnel with her parents. His voice was cold and stern as always, but the light in his eyes had changed completely. Where there had been utter emptiness, there was resolve. Where there had been only power, now, there was strength and faith… "And I am here to end my contract with you."_

_Yubaba, of course, was unmoved. "Your contract was not one of servitude, boy," she told him, placing emphasis on the last word. Oh, she knew who he was from the very moment she looked at him. There were only a handful of powerful beings on this side of the Spirit-Realm, and although he was young, it still did not mean that he was one to be taken lightly. So when he had stumbled onto her bathhouse, eyes empty and mind confused, she took the opportunity to make this fledging River-God her "apprentice". He had learned much from her, of course, things that he could never have learnt by himself, and when she had control over him, she had to admit, there was no one who could yield results as great as he. "You were my apprentice, a pact bound in blood until I deem you ready."_

_Haku snarled, sharp fangs appearing even on his boy-like visage. With every passing moment, he felt his power rise, returning to him, as if a great wave had washed over him. "And already I hold same amount of power as you do now," he told her with gritted teeth, forming a ball of gold light, of pure energy in his hands just to prove his point._

_Yubaba harrumphed. "Don't be impertinent, child," she replied. "You may be a God, you may be powerful, but you do not the experience as I have." She did the same as he, and summoned the ball of energy, hurling towards him in a curved trajectory. _

_And when she thought that it would hit him, he changed the sphere of light in his hands into a great shield that covered him like a tortoise shell, deflecting the blast, which rebounded all around her office, setting fire to the objects which had been hit. This, of course, infuriated Yubaba. Any damage done by such fire could not be easily repaired, although it could be extinguished. He had destroyed some of her precious porcelains that she had jealously hoarded for millennia. _

_Sensing that she was in no amicable mood to talk, Haku did what he thought to be the best course. In a flash of sakura petals, he took his dragon-form and flew out the nearest window with a great roar. Of course, he feared not the Witch, but he knew that her son, Bou, was in there. Monstrous seven-foot toddler that he was, Haku knew that the child was innocent. He would not have hurting a child on his list of sins. It would scar his memory for all eternity, and the repercussions, moral or not, would be great. _

_Also, he knew that fighting in such an enclosed space would not aid him at all. In the form of a dragon, he was far more powerful, and, far more agile. Men of ancient times had not coveted the scales for nothing, and he would be able to deflect most spells and blasts that Yubaba would throw at him. Once more he roared, hovering close to the window, trying to draw her out. And he knew that in her angered state, the hag would fall into almost any strategic deception, wizened, powerful spirit or no. _

"_Take this!" she shouted, sending a dark column of purplish lightning towards him. If he was not careful, such an attack would paralyze him and send him plummeting down into the water. What an apt… course of action, especially when he was right above the blue lake! The very moment he hit the water, any sort of foreign power upon him would be negated._

_Haku looped his body backwards, seemingly done to make him seem to avoid the lightning, but allowed the latter third of his serpentine form to catch it. Roaring in feigned agony, he plunged himself into the water, and remained still and silent once he had touched the bottom. _

_It was a good few minutes before Yubaba hovered over the surface of the water, looking for him. Of course, being a being of water, he could completely hide himself in it, being literally invisible unless he wished to be seen. "Heh, the stupid boy drowned in his own element," he heard her chuckle maliciously, and that was the cue he took to attack. _

_Springing himself from the bottom of the huge lake, he shot through the water, and back into the skies. Forming the same golden energy in his mouth, he shot a huge blast towards her, which she could only barely parry. Brandishing his claws, he roared and summoned a large wave from the water below and had the water form into a large fist._

_Yubaba did not know what he was about to do, but she knew that she could not let that fist grab hold of her. Thus, she quickly wrapped her flying-cloak around her, taking the form of a strange bird, flying quickly from the watery fist. By then, most of the bathhouse had been alerted by the fight, and the employees were all cheering, but for either side, but rather for the break of monotony in their lives. _

_Haku roared, and the fist chased the hag with increased speed. It was then he heard the cry of a child… In fact, it was loud and so deafening that his concentration was broken. And when he looked up, staying the fist that he had summoned, he saw Yubaba suspended in mid-air, rendered immobile. No matter how hard she flapped her arms (or wings, if they could be called that), she could not move even an inch. _

"_That's enough, Baba!" a child's voice… It was Bou!_

_Immediately, Yubaba threw off the flying-cloak and looked at her son, who was peeking his head out of the amber-paneled window. "Bou, now is not the time to be interfering with my affairs!" she chided her son in the manner as she had always said to him. "Now be a good boy and go play while Baba kills this insolent young fool."_

_However, Bou would not have it at all. In fact, he wailed and shouted so loudly that the bathhouse began to quiver from its very foundations. Haku returned to his human form and flew towards Yubaba. "I think that you should take your son's advice," he told her, the watery fist still in his command, emerald eyes sharp and fierce as he looked at the hag. "At least he sees reason."_

"_Aren't you one to talk?" Yubaba countered. "You were the one who instigated this exchange!"_

"_Baba, you attacked Haku Nii-san first!" Bou demanded, and it was the truth. All Haku did was to gather a ball of energy before him, preparing for any eventuality. "I saw it myself!"_

_And when her son spoke in such a manner, there was no way that Yubaba could deny anything. For one, it would cause more damage to the bathhouse which she had treasured so much, and the second reason would be that like all doting mothers, she feared to see her son cry so much and so loudly. _

_So, very literally, Yubaba's weakness was her son, the one being who could make her give in to their demands. "So I won't kill him, but what else do you want me to do?"_

"_I want you to let Haku Nii-san go," Bou cooed, sucking on his large thumb. "He's done enough for you… But I want you to allow him to visit whenever he wants to!"_

_Yubaba scowled. After whatever exchanges they had for the past few moments, Haku knew that he had earned her eternal vehemence, and eternal for them, meant a very, very, long time indeed. Releasing the fist of water, he waited for Yubaba's response. And once again, the hag looked at her humungous infant, who gave her a severe nod, as if daring her to do otherwise. _

"_Oh, all right," she relented. And immediately, a piece of paper flew from her office-cum-living quarters upstairs. It was their original contract. "Since you've proven before everyone that we're more or less equals in terms of power (there were a few boos from the employees, but these were quieted down when she glared at them), you might as well leave." Haku looked at Yubaba and bowed deeply. He might have regained his powers, but he still owed her that one courtesy for not killing him on the spot when he arrived at her doorstep powerless, dazed and confused. "Also, you may come… when Bou sees fit."_

_Haku nodded, and said to the child, "I'll come visit when I can." He repeated the very same words to the others, and they, like Bou, cheered him on as he returned to his dragon-form, flying away to search for his River, so that he may be reunited with it, after such a length of time.

* * *

_

You cannot destroy a river wholly. You could pollute its waters, you could drive its fish away , you can fill it with countless amounts of sand and earth, but even if you drain it, there must be somewhere where you have to place all the water. And as long as its sacred waters still run, albeit in another course, you can never wholly destroy the God that is joined and bound to that river.

That was how Haku, no, Nigihamyami Kohaku Nushi had survived the desecration of his own river; That, and the fact that even if his river had been directed into another, the shrine that the people had erected there, the shrine where the local sons and daughters had offered their prayers and incense to him, still remained. And so long that shrine remained so would he. That was how he could survive the trauma of being separated from his river, and how his river could survive being separated from him.

Anyways, the humans who had drained his river were not utterly cruel beings as well. Upon seeing his shrine downriver, they decided to return the waters of his river into the nearby lake. And of course, the nearby lake spirit was not very happy about this arrangement at all. It took him three years to locate the diverted waters, and when he showed himself in that lake, the carp-spirit who had claimed it for his own fled immediately without needing him to even say a word. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a Dragon, or some other argument, but the important thing was that the carp had left him a healthy lake, untouched by humans, teeming with so much life and activity that his power had actually increased from the joining of his river's waters and that of the lake.

Overjoyed with the fact that he was now free, and that he was finally reunited with the sacred waters of his being (which has increased by about 2000m3), the young Dragon rejoiced for days, taming the lake into his will. And as a reward for the locals who continued to visit his shrine even in his time of absence, he worked with the nearby tree-spirits in lining the lake's banks with flora so beautiful that the modern Chinese who visited those parts claimed that his could rival the Western Lake in China.

However, as happy as he might have now seemed, he could never forget the one person who had granted him all this. Ogino Chihiro… Back when his river was still running, she had dropped her shoe into his waters, and almost drowned if he had not saved her by catching her in his dragon-form and bringing her to the shore.

If she had not remembered anything of it, he could still have remained Yubaba's slave. If she had not told him that the river that she had fallen into was the Kohaku River, he would have never remembered his true name, and he would never have regained his freedom.

* * *

Chihiro…

* * *

He owed her not only his freedom, but his life… It was because of her that the curse upon Zeniba's golden seal was lifted, because of her that he even had the ability to survive his encounter with the shikigami birds that had attacked him, and because of her that he was freed of Yubaba's curse that sought to control him…

He promised to her that they would meet again in the future, and he intended to see that promise through. He would not stop until he had seen those clear brown-hued eyes and her smile once again.

"I will come for you one day, Chihiro," he murmured to himself, looking at the sun hanging so proudly in the skies. "And we shall meet again, just as we promised."

* * *

HAN: How did you all like this chapter? Over the past half a year, I have been so engrossed in writing Call of Duty fanfics that I seem to have lost touch in writing supernatural combat ^.^ No matter, I think thanks are in order.

The first one goes to my dear Popiah (you know who you are) for providing me with the correct nudges I need to write this fic with!

Capital E, once again, for giving me this challenge!

And beyondtheskies, for reviewing. And as for your volunteering to be my beta, I am highly honored, but I don't work well with betas, because I have this strange habit in which I force meself to publish one chapter a day (roughly). If I slack off, then the idea's won't flow consistently and the whole thing may just halt abruptly! I hope you understand! Sorry, and thank you though!


	3. The Shock

Another night spent staring at the moon, and it was yet another night she had waited in vain. How long had it been since that hot summer's day that she had mistakenly found her way into the world of the spirits with her parents? How long had it been since they had been turned into pigs and she had saved them? How long had it been since she had been given that purple hair-tie and she promised a certain River-God that they would meet again and vice versa…

Twelve years, it had been twelve years, and still, not a single word she had received from her friends in the bathhouse… As a child, she had waited for that magical day of reunion, slowly waiting and waiting and waiting again for a sign… any sign that would show that they would see one another again.

* * *

And now, at 22 years old, a future lawyer who had just returned for a holiday from her tertiary studies in the United Kingdom, she just felt as if she could no longer wait any more. She had waited long enough. Throwing off the covers of her bed, she got dressed in a pair of comfy jeans and the first top that she saw. The purple hair-tie that Zeniba had given to her remained on her wrist, for she did not feel like putting her hair up, for it had been a cool night to begin with.

"Alright then, let's see if I can find the entrance again," she told herself, almost running down the stairs when she heard the sound of breaking glass. It could be the family cat again, she deemed, accidentally knocking off one of her mother's glass vases that she loved so much. But just before she could pass it off for the cat, she heard voices…

"Are you sure we've got the right place?" a male voice asked. A hiss followed… a snake? Why would a would-be robber be talking to a snake at all?

Even if she was not trained to sense anything in any way, Chihiro could gather that as the seconds passed, more and more people started to come into her house. Common sense would dictate that she ran back into her room or alert her still-sleeping parents, but… something just stayed her where she had been standing. No matter how hard she tried she could not move.

* * *

"_I… I can't move!" she exclaimed, and he looked back towards her. Mumuring a few words in such speed that she could not comprehend, she saw white light coming from the palm of his hand, entering her legs… _

"_Stand, now," he barked, his orders gentle despite the apparent urgency that she did so. Within seconds, she was already on her feet, running from that strange-headed crow…

* * *

_

"What's going on in here?" her father demanded, his voice booming as he took one of the katana from the stands in the upstairs hallway. It had been their ancestor's, that one. Her father once told her that the Ogino family was once a samurai clan that fought of the Meiji Emperor during the Bakumatsu, roughly a hundred and fifty years ago. It was since passed down to him and Chihiro knew that it still remained as sharp as it had been all those years ago. "I have a katana and I'm not afraid to use it!"

And for a few minutes, it seemed that her father's threats had worked. Her mother came to her side and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry, your father will handle this," her mother told her, her usually calm voice trembling a little. Chihiro looked at her mother and nodded. "Be careful!" her mother then exclaimed to her father, who gave them a thumbs up before descending down the stairs.

Once her father had disappeared into the darkness of the living room which was directly beneath the stairs, silence followed once again. The tension was so thick that it could be cut with the weapon that her father now held in his hands. Instinctively, she and her mother held one another, trembling with fear as they heard nothing… nothing at all. Not even her father's footsteps.

"Oka-san, will Otou-san be alright?" Chihiro asked her mother, who only held her tighter. Mrs. Ogino was horribly terrified, particularly when sounds alike the hissing of snakes became louder and louder… There was a clang upon the immaculate porcelain-tiled floor. The ring of a heavy metal object hitting a cold, hard surface. Her father's katana had fallen… And even until then, there was not a sound to be heard…

Mrs. Ogino, driven both by fear for her husband, or the need to protect her daughter, pushed Chihiro aside and descended the stairs herself. She was not halfway down the stairs and screamed upon what she saw when she threw a light switch on, and with her scream, Chihiro had regained her ability to move. Immediately, she went to her mother's side, and discovered her father's body at the foot of the stairs, in a pool of blood, his head severed…

"Otou-san!" she cried out, bringing her hands to her mouth in response to her utter shock. Tears started to stream down her face, but that was not the end of it, on the contrary…

Right in the living-room, exposed for all to see, was a great a snake-like being dressed in summer yukata, wielding a great axe. And by its side, was what seemed to be a carp, with large, protruding eyes and golden scales. That thing seemed to be wearing ancient Chinese clothes, complete with the box-like hat upon the top of its head.

"There, there she is!" the carp exclaimed, brandishing its broadsword at her whilst looking towards the snake. "Do not let her escape!"

At those words, her mother pushed her away without a moment's hesitation. "Chihiro, run!" Mrs. Ogino shouted at her daughter, and pushed her into the kitchen so she could run through the back door as she picked up the katana of her fallen husband. Chihiro did not know what she was supposed to do. Her heart told her that she should not leave her mother alone there with her dead father, faced with such... monsters, but her instincts kicked in and she ran.

It was not long before she heard another scream from her mother, as well as the dreadful silence that followed it… She did not care, and offering her apologies to her parents in her mind, she ran as fast as her legs could bring her. She ran down the hill that her house was on, under the dim illumination of the streetlights that flickered on and off curiously. Taking a sharp left turn, Chihiro ran towards the nearby park and hid behind a rather tall bush.

"Where are you, human?" the carp demanded, walking about not ten feet away from her. "You can't hide from us forever you know…"

She did not respond in any way, for fear of giving away her location, not knowing that the snake already had its eyes upon her. She took a step back, and found herself being constricted by a frenzy of wet, slimy scale… It did not take long for her to realize that it was the snake that had a hold on her… "Help!" she shouted, but in truth, not a sound escaped her lips. She would be dead in a few more moments if the situation did not change, and a tear fell from her eye. Was this to be her end?

Her vision started to blur, but even as everything became hazy, she could make out the outline of someone… a man dressed in white and blue. A tall being with long hair and green eyes. Yes… she had seen those eyes before… The man raised his palm towards the snake, and it began to writhe in utter pain and agony. Chihiro could feel its skin increasing in temperature quickly, and within mere seconds, its hold over her started to slacken, and once again she was free. She hunched over, using the nearest tree for support as she caught her breath, all while watching the snake hiss and convulse in what seemed to be in utter pain.

Soon, red steam seemed to emerge from the snake itself… It… it was boiling from within! A painful, and utterly merciless death it had been, but she knew that she was not out of danger yet… There was still the thing that resembled a carp…

"I do not fear you, Dragon," the carp told the white-clothed man, backing away from him, its sword still held high, the tip pointed towards the man's chest.

A Dragon? Chihiro asked herself… Could it be?

And before she could ever come out with an answer for herself, the man laughed coolly, sounding so sinister that the hairs on her neck stood on end. "Indeed, you fled your own lake before I even entered it," he replied, gold light filling the space before his claw-like gesture. "It was in such a mess that you should be thanking me for how it is now!"

The carp did not answer, but began to chant in a language that Chihiro did not understand. Even the man's brows furrowed, and when the carp raised its head again, it disappeared, leaving about a dozen human-like sculptures made of soil and mud. There was a loud roar, one that caused a circular shockwave, but still, those things advanced towards the man… In fact, they seemed to have increased in power.

Clearly, magic, or whatever it was, had no hold over those things. And suddenly, the glimmer of a certain object caught the corner of Chihiro's eyes. It was the axe that belonged to the snake, and she grabbed it, knowing full-well that it was the weapon that had claimed the life of her father.

"Hey, use this!" she shouted towards the man, and threw the axe towards him as best she could, being very, very lucky that he managed to catch it. He wielded the weapon as if it had been a third appendage.

Hacking and slashing the mud-sculptures even as he made his way towards her, he noted that so long he kept severing the arms and legs of those things, they would only just grow back in seconds. Thus, he decided to change his tactics, and started to swing the axe vertically down, splitting the nearest one into half. It did not rise again, and soon, he began to repeat what he had just discovered, until every last one was gone.

"Chihiro!" the man shouted towards her when he cast down the axe, enveloping her in his arms. How did he know her name? "Forgive me… I was too late…" he murmured into her hair. That warmth about him was so familiar… She had met him once before, she knew it, it was a long, long time ago, from a forgotten memory that was trying its best to surface from the darkest depths of her mind.

And soon, she stopped her trembling, calmed by his embrace, and so did the tears that flowed down her face. "Haku…" she stammered. Yes, she recognized him now… He was Haku, the Dragon that saved her when she was a child, the one that she had befriended first at the bathhouse! She could not be mistaken at all, it was Haku! "Why?" she asked him, blinking her eyes in utter confusion. Her lips parted to speak further, but no word came out at all… she could not utter anything else, feeling a strange stillness that washed over her when she felt him touch her forehead ever so gently.

"Hush, Chihiro, all will be fine," he whispered into her ear, tucking his arms beneath her shoulders and knees to lift her up as she started to fall asleep. "Sleep…"

And thus, he disappeared into the night, leaving only the axe that he had wielded just a few minutes before… The carp was nowhere in sight, but he knew that there were more pressing matters he had to attend to… But there was one thing in his mind for sure:

Chihiro would not like what she will discover when she woke up.

* * *

HAN: Thanks to all who reviewed! ^.^ And thanks once again to Capital E for putting me out of a rut, ahahahaha ^.^


	4. The Revelation

_"Run, Chihiro, run!"

* * *

_

Her eyes jolted open when she heard her mother's words in her mind, only to find herself no longer sleeping in her own room, in a foreign establishment that seemed so damned familiar to her… She knew that place… Yes, she was there before… The smell of cooking hot and hot, brewing tea… The windows that rattled in the wind…

She was once again at Zeniba's cottage! But before she could react any further, she felt a strange warmth surrounding her hand, and found Haku right beside her, his head resting on the edge of her bed as he was seated on a low chair by the bedside… Yes, she remembered now, she was being chased by two spirits that had no doubt killed her parents…

Haku saved her. As he had always done, and now, he had transported her to Zeniba's cottage, but why?

"Chihiro, you're awake!" he exclaimed when she moved her hand slightly, rubbing his emerald eyes. "Are you well?" he asked, looking into her eyes with those piercing ones of his. "Are you hurt?" And he would have continued on and on, if Zeniba had not interrupted him by clearing her throat.

"Go easy on her, boy," Zeniba said. "She's just woken up and there's no need to send her in another state of shock just yet!" Haku almost glared at the Witch, but Chihiro said nothing, only gazing at the both of them. "And now, child, how are you feeling?" Zeniba continued, adding to the questions that Haku had previously asked.

And even if Chihiro could collect her thoughts in a calm manner, she still cannot go over the shock of seeing her father's dead body. "Oba-san, my parents!" she exclaimed, the groggy daze that covered her completely gone already. And with the clarity that came, was also the pain of the realization that both her parents were dead. "That snake…" She remembered an axe-wielding snake-spirit, as well as a carp… What was going on? Why would they kill her parents when she had nothing to do with them at all?

"I think we'll need a big pot of tea to sort this out," Zeniba sighed, and left for the kitchen. She nodded towards Haku, a silent gesture telling him that he should lead her to the large dining-table downstairs where they could talk. The Dragon obliged, and put his arm around Chihiro, supporting her as she rose slowly from her bed.

"You… came for me," Chihiro said, raising her head so that she could meet Haku's eyes. He returned the glance, and tipped her chin with his finger and thumb. A smile graced his handsome features, and despite the uneventful turn of fate, she even found it in her to discover the sensations of butterflies fluttering in her stomach when he looked at her so.

"Chihiro, I owe you every single thing that I have gained," he told her, tucking a stray lock of her behind her ear. "Of course I will come for you when you are in danger." He knew what she would ask after that, he knew that she would inquire why he had not come to see her for twelve years, despite what they had promised so many years ago…

However, still, she remained silent. In fact, a smile graced her features as well. Her beautiful brown eyes were filled with confusion and sadness, and the smile was nothing like those of her childhood, given so freely and so generously. This one was bitter, a forced one, to lighten his heart as much as she could. "Thanks," she murmured into his shoulder, feeling his large hand gently stroking the back of her hair, finding every bit of comfort from his actions. "For saving me… again."

Then, with the authority of a God and the gentleness of a long-loved friend, Haku silenced her with a finger brought to her lips. "Hush now," he said, "I will have none of this foolishness, Chihiro. You are all that I have now, and I will risk everything to protect you."

When Chihiro descended the stairs with Haku, she was greeted by No-Face at the foot of the stairs. "Uh, uh," he said rather happily, and bowed to her in greeting. She did the same as well, and said, "It's nice to see you again." She could sense a smile from him, and she repeated the smile that she had given to Haku previously.

Now, the Dragon was already alerted. If she had been so quick to use this as a shield, she must have gone through a huge amount of pain… Either that, or she had already trained herself to be a great actress… "Chihiro…" he murmured her name once more, and placed a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it slightly to remind her that he would be there for her.

She looked back towards him, and put her hand on his, thanking him once again. "Uh, uh," No-Face continued, and ushered the both of them towards the dining-room, where an impressive feast was already laid out for them. Zeniba had outdone herself this time.

"Come now, child, you have to eat something to regain your strength," Zeniba said, placing Chihiro on the chair at the head of the table while she took the one on the other end. "And after dinner, all your questions will be answered, do not worry."

* * *

Dinner was a silent affair, where the only sounds were emitted during eating, and Zeniba's comments that Chihiro was still far too thin for her liking. Of course, in the eyes of a male, Chihiro was nothing less than a stunning beauty, and there was no word less for it. But despite Zeniba's constant barking that she should eat more, Haku knew that she just picked a few chopsticks full of rice and vegetables just to placate the kindly Witch.

"I think that we cannot hold the truth from Chihiro any longer," Haku said, when all of them had stopped eating. The tension between all of them had been so thick that he could have sworn that he was able to cut it with his very own claws. And thankfully, Zeniba agreed.

"Alright, what do you want to know, child?" Zeniba asked Chihiro, allowing No-Face to go on with the task of cleaning up after dinner.

"What were those things that… killed my parents?" Chihiro asked in return. "And why would they want me?" Brown eyes darted from huge, bulging ones, to clear emerald ones, and still, both of them looked reluctant to tell her what she needed and wanted to find out. "Please…"

Zeniba stood up from her chair and walked towards her. "Child, to know all this, we must go back the very core of your existence… Your coming to us when you were but a child was not mere coincidence or even a trick of fate…"

It was at this point that Chihiro interrupted Zeniba. "Then what was it?" she asked Zeniba. "I'm just a normal human!" However, from the expressions from all across the table she started to realize that it was not so. "Aren't I?"

Haku was the one who answered her question. "You are the very personification of Light, Chihiro," he answered. "Humans of this nature are born every few thousand years or so, and although we do not know your true function, but it is said that whoever drains your blood is able to access power that surpasses even the knowledge of any one of us here…"

"And to protect you before you reached maturity, in body and in soul, the World created illusions to protect you from being preyed upon by those who would seek your blood," Zeniba continued. "And even then, the magic around you was so powerful that all of us just thought that you were just another human that managed to somehow touch our lives."

Chihiro, however, was not going to accept anything that has been said so easily. "You're lying!" she exclaimed, placing both her hands to her head. She shut her eyes and crouched her head to her knees, as if everything would go away whenever she did that. "I'm just a normal human! I'll be going back to London at the end of the summer!"

Zeniba, on the other hand was relentless. "Child, it's highly impossible to run away from the truth!" she said, her voice increasing in aggressiveness and urgency. "You may still be a human, but you are more than you seem to be, as you always have been!"

Still, Chihiro refused to listen. "They're my parents, Oba-san!" she shouted back. "They can't be fake! They loved me, and they cared for me…" And then her latest memory of her father surfaced. "There was blood when that… snake killed my father!"

At this point of time, Zeniba had almost lost her patience. "Your parents were only a protective enchantment that Nature had given to you, child!" she replied with the same fury that Chihiro had. "They were meant to disappear sooner or later, and it's better if you knew _sooner_!"

* * *

"No!"

* * *

Within seconds, Chihiro was out of Zeniba's door after angrily flinging it open. Haku just looked at the Witch icily. "I hope that you have achieved what you wanted, Witch," he said, and started to go after Chihiro. In her current state, and the knowledge that the carp easily locate her, Haku knew it best that she did not go anywhere unescorted.

Luckily, she did not go far. In fact, she had went only until Zeniba's front gate, where was crying by herself. That was so like her, and he walked up towards her, saying nothing. "You knew, didn't you?" she asked him, her tear-stained face looking at him. It pained him to see her in such a state, but he knew that any sane person would have reacted the way that she had. "Haku… please…"

Haku took a deep breath and nodded. "I knew since you fell into my river," he told her, casting his eyes away from her. He knew that in keeping such a secret, he would have already started his betrayal of her, but at that time, she did not need his protection, for as a River-God, he knew that he could never override the will of Nature as it flowed. But now… everything was different. "Chihiro, listen to me…"

"Then answer me this… How did the carp know you?" she asked him further, completely disregard his attempts to calm her down.

"He claims to be my adversary," he told her in all honesty. "When I discovered the waters of my river had been redirected into his lake, he fled without a word… It's the first time I've seen him ever since then, Chihiro, you must believe me…"

"Why should I?" Chihiro countered. Fury was so evident in her entire being that Haku realized that she did not even know that it was her that was making the surrounding trees sway as if they were dancing some violent dance… With her supposed parents dead, the seal of protection over her had ended, and soon, she would be the most hunted person in the Spirit-Realm. Such a display of raw power, however accidental, might easily give her location away, but Haku knew that it was a risk that he had to take. She had to realize for herself that every single thing that she had been told that night was only the truth and nothing else.

"Because you know that it is the truth!" Haku replied, holding both shoulders of hers in his hands. "Chihiro, you do not have to walk this path alone… I can help you. I will protect you with my life if I have to!"

"_**My life… was perfect without you**_!" Chihiro spat, pushing him away. Her voice cold, her tear-filled eyes filled with anger, such great anger that even Haku had stilled his tongue. It was not before long when she curled into a little ball as she had done so a long, long time ago by the pig-pens of the bathhouse after locating her parents. She did not mean those words, she had only said them in anger, only out of pain. It was a long, long time before she stopped sobbing. She looked at him, and asked, "My whole life has been a lie, hasn't it?"

"No, Chihiro," Haku said, taking her hands in hers. "It has not… You had come into existence just by the will of Nature. For the millennia to come, you are the single source of power unchallenged and untouched, even if you cannot use it yourself. And thus, your parents are actually illusions that She has given to you, for you are made to be human. For that reason alone, they were real, because they existed, just not in the manner of all other beings. Your life is still yours, Chihiro. No matter what you are, or what you may become… you are still Ogino Chihiro…"

He had meant to continue further, but he stopped his own tongue when he still could control himself from uttering anything that he might regret because the most important thing that she was safe, and that she was brought into a stable condition. Slowly, he coaxed her back into Zeniba's cottage, wordlessly casting a barrier around it, to fend off any evil that might be on the prowl of her.

"How is she?" Zeniba asked him as he laid her on the bed she had previously slept in, already fast asleep.

"She is alright," Haku replied. "Keep her safe. I have to return to my lake." A Witch could never properly defy a God, but as Zeniba was a revered and honored figure amongst the spirits, he held a tremendous amount of respect towards her. "Please, for your sake and hers, do not rattle her any more than she is. I will return tomorrow."

* * *

HAN: Ahahhaha, so I have fulfilled the prompt! Yay! Take that, Capital E! And now all that remains is that I continue on with the story!

Also, I want to bring to light the song I've been listening to whenever I'm writing this fic: It's Angela Aki's Tegami (Haikei Jūgo no Kimi e), which is a highly beautiful song. It reminds me of Chihiro reminscing on her childhood adventures in the bathhouse as an adult. ^.^

Thank you to all who has reviewed this fic, and I hope you like this chapter as well!


	5. The Return

Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi may be little more than a boy in the reckoning of the Spirit-Realm, however, the young Dragon was more than just a youngling who thought himself almost invincible and ready to make his stand against the world. This boy was a fighter, due to his natural leanings as a Dragon, and being the former apprentice of the Witch, Yubaba. There were rumors that he boy had dared to stand his ground against Yubaba herself, but the Carp decided not to delve into it that much.

Picking out the scales that had been damaged by the attempt to seize the Light-blessed human, the Carp could not help but wonder why and how the Dragon had been able to intercept him, just when he almost had his hands, er, fins, on the prize. What he did know was that the boy had interfered with his plans far too many times.

Firstly, the waters of his river had been directed into his lake. Now, although this was not of the boy's doing, the Carp had lost a significant amount of power just because of it. That was because all the living organisms within the lake sensed the greater power that came from the new water and quickly shifted their attention and allegiance to it, thinking that those waters would be able to protect them better.

For more than a decade, he had to deal with the foreign, and more powerful water attacking that of his own, and for more than a decade, he had slowly suffered a great deal, especially when the water had been first introduced into his lake. His powers waned, and he knew that he would be reduced into being just a regular carp if he did not do something soon.

It was then when he remembered an old legend that if a Carp could leap over the Dragon's Gate and drain the blood of Light at the sacred chalice behind it, said Carp would transform into a Dragon more powerful than any other. It had been done before, and it took years of scouring over historical records to discover that he was in luck, that the human form of the energies of the world was alive in that generation, and even longer to discover that the person was a human girl staying not far away from the bathhouse of the spirit-realm.

However, just before he was able to take action, the boy appeared at his lake. Of course, the carp would do everything in his power to stop the young Dragon from bonding with the waters of his own lake, but he was too late. The very moment the Dragon stuck his palm into the water, the entire lake reacted to his power. The Carp would always remember the bright, white light that came from the very depths of the lake, and when it had subsided, the lake, and all of its denizens, down to the slightest particle, claimed young Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi as their new master.

He had no choice but to tear away his bonds with his own lake and run for his life before it killed him. Vowing revenge, he left the area, finding a deep, dank swamp to hide in, where he lorded over a few snakes and frogs, biding his time until the day that he could locate the source of the Light, and claim her for himself, so that he could retake what has been stolen from him…

How was he to know that the girl was protected by the very same Dragon that had driven him out of house and home?

"The girl better be worth the trouble," he muttered to himself, casting a spell over his bare skin, causing new scales to appear, replacing the ones that he had picked off. It would be a long trek towards the Dragon's Gate from where he was, even if he had travelled on the train. However, he doubted that the Dragon would want her at the bathhouse at all, not when he already knows that she was already a target. Also, the other spirits would most likely find out that she is the Light in human form and would want her for themselves immediately, not to mention Yubaba, the greedy-power hungry Witch that ran the bathhouse…

* * *

"Tell me again why am I going back to the bathhouse?" Chihiro asked Zeniba, who slipped a handwritten letter into the human's hands. If she was what everyone wanted, shouldn't she be on the run at the moment? "I mean… Yubaba…"

Zeniba chuckled, and petted Chihiro's back. "Now, child, my sister may be a powerful Witch, but she is quite lax in all the academic stuff," the Witch answered. "Anyways, you'll be hiding in plain sight, and don't worry, because the nature of your existence is only known by those who are touched by you, which is Haku, of course (because he saved you from drowning in his former river), and those whom they had chosen to reveal this fact to." So… Haku told Zeniba that she was the Light incarnate. "However… there are other ways for one to figure that out…"

"Like?" Chihiro felt that if anyone would blurt another random, but highly important fact about her again, she would have to hit anyone who told it to her.

"Tracing the end of one Light-being to you," the Witch replied as if it was the most common thing in the world. "This means that the person who could do it knew how the last one died, and was most probably present at the time… or, that person passed on knowledge of that event. There are so many possibilities, so one cannot be sure how or why…"

Chihiro fell silent. She did not really know how to make out her situation. Is she going to live the rest of her life like this? Running from one place to another until she was old and broken? And as if that was not hard enough, Zeniba had expressively informed her over breakfast that although every single drop of blood in her body was highly valuable, she would still have those "magical properties" of hers if she was the one who bled herself. In fact, one needed a highly elaborate ritual to actually kill her and drain her blood fully.

This, of course, made her sigh once again. Why can't things be much simpler like they used to be?

Her thoughts, however, were interrupted by a sudden burst of wind that caused Zeniba's windows to rattle. "Uh, uh!" No-Face said, pointing towards the door after he looked out the window. Hurriedly, the masked spirit grabbed the pack that she was to bring with her to the bathhouse and opened the door.

It was like a memory of long ago… There was Haku, in his Dragon-form, waiting for her right outside the door. He was as she had remembered him, a long, serpentine creature of utter majesty, sporting pearl-white scales and a mane of green jade, while the talons on each of his feet remained as sharp as ever.

Smiling, she ran towards him and hugged him by the muzzle, chuckling and giggling as she had done when she was 10. She was happy to see him again, even when the last time she saw him, she had blatantly used him as nothing but something to pour her frustration, anger and confusion upon. "Haku… I'm sorry," she apologized to him, lightly stroking the area between his brows.

The Dragon hissed, and gnashed his teeth playfully at her. _Do not worry about it, Chihiro,_ his voice rang in her head. Wait… how did he? Did he just talk to her in her mind? _We are connected to one another in more ways than you can imagine, now come, it is not safe for you or Zeniba if you continue to remain here for so long._

Nodding in obedience, Chihiro took her pack from No-Face and bowed to him before hugging Zeniba goodbye. "Thank you, Oba-san," she said with little pearls of tears falling from her eyes. Twelve years down the road, and she was still an incessant crybaby… "I don't know what I'd do without your help."

"Silly girl," Zeniba chided her gently. "Even if I won't do anything, that boy must have had something all figured out for you. He cares for you greatly, you know… Well, as I have told you, Dragons are stubborn creatures…" Chihiro smiled, and took a step back to bow to her as well. "Tolkien would say, 'sa meleth i amlug,' I guess."

Chihiro did not have the time to ask Zeniba what she had meant with her last sentence, because the very moment she got on Haku, encircling the girth of his form with her white arms, the young Dragon had taken to the skies.

* * *

As a Dragon, he felt the freest in the skies, and in any body of water. Soaring through the clouds (and careful enough not to let Chihiro fall), he was especially grateful that the woman on his back had not lost her childhood bravado. She was still unafraid of heights, even if he was soaring hundreds of feet above ground, doing loops, dives, and whatnot every now and then.

Chihiro chuckled. "You know, you're everything like I remembered," she told him, whispering into his mane as she held him by each of his deer-like antlers. If he were in his human-like form, he would have chuckled, but he could produce such a sound as he currently was. However, it seemed as if she could sense his response, perhaps by how his neck had vibrated. "What's so funny?"

_My memory of you does no justice to how you are now,_ he replied, taking a more leisurely pace halfway through their journey. He was right, and he knew it. Her long brown hair was sleek and smooth, while her face had lost its childish roundness. One thing that remained the same was her brown eyes that had always exuded a strength that he knew was just hers. It held a quiet grace, and with it she would take any challenge thrown towards her, willing to do whatever she could to help. It was this quality of hers that brought him to this part of his life, when he was once again a powerful being, when he was free to do as he wished, able to protect those who needed him. _You are more beautiful than I remember._

Chihiro blushed. Was he flirting with her? It was totally uncalled for, and she did not know how to respond. Alright, she admitted to herself that she rather liked Haku as he had appeared now. After all, did anyone wished to remain like a kid for all eternity? She was certain that there was some lovely she-Dragon that he had his eye on, and decided to age himself to appeal to her. Yes… that must be it.

_Chihiro, there is no one that I have eyes on as of yet,_ he told her with slight condescension. It was the truth, however, and it was one that she would have to accept. Besides, Haku reasoned, there was so she-Dragon that could match a certain someone…

He stopped thinking about anything else for the moment the sight of a familiar red tower came into sight. He could sense that Chihiro was smiling as she raised herself into a sitting position. They were level with the tenth-floor of the bathhouse when he had stopped mid-air, and somehow, she sensed that he sought to go straight to Yubaba. _We must take care of the most unpleasant of formalities first, be patient,_ he warned her gently as they flew upwards, parallel with the building's side at full speed.

In mere seconds, they were right at the balcony of Yubaba's office. Opening his mouth that was lined with sharp teeth harder than titanium, an orb of blue light formed right above his reddened tongue, which he had shot right on what seemed to be a new and (undoubtedly) expensive rug.

Chihiro covered her ears when Yubaba screamed, as was most characteristic of her, and felt herself landing gently on the tiled balcony. Haku soon joined her after reappearing in his human-form following a shower of sakura-colored scales. "There is no need to fear her anymore," he whispered into her ear, and led her into the Witch's office, while Yubaba was still busying herself in putting out the flames that Haku had so playfully set.

"I just hope you're right," Chihiro gulped, and entered with the Dragon.

* * *

HAN: My thanks, once again, to those who reviewed! Oh, and as you may well know, the Lunar New Year is coming, and being Chinese, it's a huge deal so I may not be updating as often as I'd like. I hope all of you understand! ^.^ So, Happy Chinese New Year to all who celebrate it, and I wish you all the luck and prosperity in the world!


	6. The Reunions

Yubaba was oblivious. First, that insolent Dragon-boy dares to burn her priceless carpet, then, he brings that cost-incurring, moral-minded, scheming, pig-stealing, worker-liberating _human_ with him.

"Yubaba!" Haku called towards her. If he had been in his dragon-form, it would have sounded as little more than a heavy roar, but it turned out to be an utterly menacing pronunciation of her name, in which inspired quite some fear in the old hag's little heart (which was miniscule, in relation to the size of her head). "Where are you?"

Appearing from the ash and the smoke, Yubaba angrily replied, "I'm right here, you impertinent boy!" If she had looked away for even a split second, there was a huge probability that Chihiro missed a slight little devious smirk that surfaced on Haku's handsome features. "And what business do you have bringing _her_ along?"

Chihiro gulped. Her brown eyes were focused between the exchanges of the dark-haired Dragon and the Witch. "Chihiro has no place to go," Haku said, "Her parents were killed by a Spirit, and we do not know who did it… Zeniba and I have decided that she'll be safest here for the time being."

Yubaba harrumphed. "My bathhouse is no place for those who do not bring profit." The Witch took one look at the young human and snarled. It was true that she was no longer a child, but a woman whose beauty could be duly noted by even the hardest of hearts. She could refuse, and be a worker short at no loss. Of course, she could easily repair the damage that the Dragon would cause as she had done years before, but, she would be going against her own oath…

* * *

_Curse my own promise to give work to whomever who seeks it_…

* * *

"Please, Oba-san," Chihiro said, clearing the air between the Dragon and the Witch. "I know that it's the rule that I have to get a job here… I need a place to go to and this bathhouse…"

"This bathhouse has been fine without you for the past twelve years!" Yubaba told her, despite Haku standing there right next to her. "In fact…"

"Your accounts are in utter disarray," Haku said, "And you have gotten into some… disputes with a few of your employees as well as some issues regarding the ownership of the bathhouse?" Yubaba cringed. How the heck did that infuriating little Dragon know about that? "Believe me, I have my ways of knowing, thanks to a few friends here."

It was an understatement to say that Yubaba was more than provoked to utter rage. However, Haku seemed to be right in control of the situation. "But, last I've looked, Chihiro was studying to be a lawyer in the human world, how would she able to help me with those things?"

Those words came as highly intriguing. Did Yubaba keep an eye on her, as Haku and Zeniba have been?

"I will try to learn as much as I can," Chihiro reassured the younger Witch, bowing low as Yubaba pondered for a few moments more. Within a few moments, a contract was made ready, and a pen floated towards her. She looked towards Haku, and he nodded silently at her. Even if his expression remained stern, she knew that under these circumstances, he would never allow anything to happen to her by Yubaba's hand. She knew it.

A deep silence ensued while Chihiro was signing the contract, and when she had completed doing the deed, Yubaba cackled slightly. As usual, she lifted three characters from Chihiro's name, but was stopped by Haku. "Do not dare to assume that you can repeat what you have done to her before," he warned, emerald eyes flashing as he made his threat towards the Witch. "Her name shall belong to her, and no others."

"Fine, do it your way," the Witch sighed, and released her hold on the character's that made up Chihiro's name. "You'll be my personal accountant and assistant…" Haku nodded, and cocked his eyebrow at the Witch. "Starting from tomorrow."

* * *

Chihiro was relieved, to say the least after she left Yubaba's office with Haku unscathed. "Thank you," she said to the Dragon. Her brown eyes were set towards her feet, and out of a sudden, she felt finger and a thumb raise her chin. The next thing she knew was that she was looking into the emerald eyes that Haku had, and he was smiling.

"This is only what little I can do for you, Chihiro," he told her. "Always remember that I will do whatever I can to aid you. I must return to my lake tomorrow morning, I am bound to it, as I am bound to you. I will return to see you on the third day."

She nodded, and responded with a smile. It was useless thanking him again, and she felt happy that he would come back to the bathhouse just for her. "You know, I don't understand how Yubaba would listen to you just like that."

To those words, Haku chuckled, and pulled her close to him. "I will tell you a secret that you must not tell the others," he whispered into her. "Being the God of the Lake nearby has its perks, and I intend to use it fully, to make that cowardly Witch bend to my will."

In fact, Yubaba was afraid of Haku, because of his friendship with Bou, and more importantly, because of his powers and great wealth that he already had, being a God with many devotees, but Chihiro did not need to know much about that. She would find out about it sooner or later anyways.

"Now come, Kamaji will be excited to see you," he said, taking her by the hand. "It has been a long time since anyone has met you, I am sure that they will be as happy to see you as I have been."

* * *

They walked through a familiar series of halls and elevators. They passed by the various spirit-filled baths, many friendly faces who nodded at them, and finally, they came to the boiler room, right at the bottom of the bathhouse. As usual, the room was unusually hot, due to the burning fires, and as usual, the little susuwatari, the soot-spirits were hauling the heavy chunks of coal into the furnaces.

"Oi, you bunch of little runts better work quickly!" Kamaji shouted towards the little soot-spirits, not noticing their presence completely. Taking the ever-shiny copper kettle before his mouth and pouring its contents down his throat, he used one of his numerous arms to wipe off any remaining liquid on his mouth and continued barking orders out, whilst grinding the herbs and other mixes for use of the baths. Sometimes Chihiro wondered what would happen to the bathhouse if Kamaji was unable to work for some unforeseen reason, would there be another six-armed spirit lurking nearby?

She did not know how long had passed, but she decided that she was tired of waiting any longer. "Kamaji…" she called softly towards the wizened spirit, and as always, he halted in his movements and looked backwards towards her, with a hand scratching his bald head, another resting on his bearded chin, and yet another extended towards her, trying to touch her as if she was but a figment of his imagination.

"Sen, is that you?" Kamaji asked her, looking towards Haku for confirmation. The young Dragon's smile was all it took to assure him that the young woman standing before him was the child that so adamantly requested him to give her a job, the girl that he had told Rin that was his granddaughter to protect her from the suspicions of the other spirits… "Look at you! You're all grown up now!"

Chihiro smiled, and ran towards him, ending her meter-long run with a great big hug that Kamaji returned with similar affection. "It's so good to see you again, Kamaji," she said between giggles. "I never thought that I'd see you again!"

"Heh, but we knew that we'll be seeing more of _you_," Kamaji replied before gesturing towards Haku. "That Dragon of yours was so persistent in leaving Yubaba's training that he made Bou blackmail her into releasing him. It'd be only a matter of time before he finds you in the human world!"

She turned towards Haku and raised an eyebrow. He had not told her anything of the sort before, and she wondered the reason behind it. "Kamaji, she is not here to visit," Haku clarified, walking towards the two of them. "She's here because her parents have passed on, and she has little connection to the human world now…"

Kamaji looked towards Chihiro, the expression of a joyous reunion between friends, now changed to one of concern. "Are you alright, Sen?" he asked her. "I mean, the death of a loved one is hard indeed, but both your parents?"

"I'm fine," she reassured Kamaji. She did not know if Kamaji knew what she was, or whether or not it was wise to tell him about it, thus, she kept the little fact about her existence hidden from the kindly spirit. She would not want him to worry about her anyways. It would be her battle and her own destiny. She would not, and could not let others fight her own wars for her, if there was any war to be fought at all. "They're at a better place now, and it's all that matters."

Kamaji petted her head and praised, "You've really grown up now, Sen. I know that your parents will be proud of you."

"Thanks," Chihiro replied, and would have continued further if not for the rest of the soot-spirits coming in between them, jumping happily at the sight of her, squeaking happily as they bounced up and down. "It's nice to meet all of you, too!" she added, which increased their elation… If only she had a handful of konpeito for them as a treat…

And as if the Universe itself had read her mind, the side-door to the boiler room opened, bringing the smell of hot food, said candy, and the voice of a familiar friend. "Dinner's here!" the female shouted, but stopped abruptly upon seeing Chihiro. "Sen!" the female shouted, and Chihiro instantly remembered her as Rin, who had helped her almost every step of her way during her time at the bathhouse twelve years ago.

"Rin!" Chihiro replied with similar warmth, and the two women held each other's hands, screaming their greetings to one another, continued with the usual hugging and teasing. "I'm so glad to see you again!"

"Me too," Rin replied, but suddenly pulled away from her. "You're not in trouble again, are you?" she asked, and panted a sigh of relief when Chihiro shook her head. "So where were you for the past twelve years? What were you doing all this time?"

Chihiro had honestly meant to answer all those questions, but Haku cleared his throat, and took her arm in his. "Rin, forgive me, but it has been a long day for Chihiro," the Dragon told the female spirit earnestly. "She needs rest if she is to assume her duties as Yubaba's accountant from tomorrow onwards."

"You're getting a job here?" Rin asked further, completely disregarding whatever Haku had said. "But what about…" Haku lifted a hand, indicating that it would be best if she did not continued. Some part of Rin wanted to threaten Haku to allow her to speak to Chihiro for longer, but she knew that Dragons were as stubborn as humans, and decided to let the matter drop completely. "I'll see you later then," she said, and allowed Haku to take Chihiro up to her new room.

* * *

She was to stay a floor above where she used to. It was a significantly smaller room, but it was one that she had all to herself. More importantly, it had large windows and a balcony large enough for a Dragon to fly into. "Haku, I don't know how to thank you…"

"I will have none of it, Chihiro," Haku replied, with a finger to her lips. "What you need now is rest, Chihiro, and you will be safe here. That Carp will be quite hard put to find you here, you have my word."

"Haku, I trust you," she told him, not knowing that she was holding his hands in hers, or that they were so large that they made hers look like those that belonged to a child. A long time ago, they seemed to be similar to hers… "I can take care of myself here. I want you to trust _me_ on this."

Haku smiled, and bowed low towards her. "Forgive me," he said, and did not say anything further. However, he did not show any sign that he was about to leave at all. In fact, he pulled his arm around her waist, bringing her body so dangerously close to his. "For doing what I must."

Chihiro had no time to react at all. By the time she knew what was going on, his lips were already pressed against hers, and she found herself melting in his arms, responding to his kiss as fervently as he had given it. And when they had parted from their heated embrace, he apologized, and planted yet another kiss on her forehead before assuming the form of a Dragon, flying out of her balcony.

* * *

HAN: I'm BACK! Woohooo, Chinese New Year was the BOMB, man! I'm sorry that I have not updated in almost a week, but yeah... ^.^ I hope you liked this chapter! I give to my thanks to all who reviewed and favorited this fic, and I hope that I have not kept you waiting for too long! See ya tomorrow!


	7. The Tortoise's Tale

Water… No single being was free from water, and even they who populate the Spirit-Realm cannot be deprived of it, him most of all. Dragons were beings of water, and they were bound to it as much as they were bound to the skies, and thus, it was of no surprise that the mighty Dragons were often guardians of bodies of water, small or large.

And that night, one such Dragon was in utter turmoil.

Through his basest of actions, a rather innocent act of comforting a distressed woman with an embrace and a kiss, something sprang in his mind… A battle-cry, a chalice filled with blood, and gold light so brilliant that it outshone the mighty Sun. He had no memory of those things, even before he had been torn away from his river, so what was it that he had seen?

As he immersed himself into the waters of his lake, images of a bloody battle between various spirits wielding weapons of every make imaginable, a beautiful woman with eyes of gold and hair the color of flame wearing a bittersweet smile upon her face with a dagger in one hand standing before a large stone chalice underneath a gate made of jade and pearl…

* * *

_"My love, I will give my blood only to you…"_

_Who was that woman, and why was her voice so alike that of Chihiro's?_

_"I do need such power, please, for the life of me, do not do this!" he shouted to that woman… What was she about to do?_

_"The moment you consume my blood, you will become a powerful Dragon… You will forget everything, but we will be together again, I promise you…"_

* * *

He could not fathom it really, had more things happened when he was torn away from his former river, or were these memories of an even further past? How was it that the consumption of one's blood able to make one a Dragon? Was he not hatched from an egg, like all Dragons were? And more importantly, why had these memories surfaced, the very moment his lips had touched Chihiro's?

"Haku-sama, you called for me?" the resident Thousand-Year-Tortoise asked when the bonding process with the waters of his lake had been completed (It was a strange thing to call a tortoise-spirit that lived for about ten thousand years a Thousand-Year-Tortoise, but that was the rest of the spirits called him).

Haku turned towards the Tortoise and nodded. "I want you to tell me what happened to the last incarnation of the Light," he told the spirit before him, whose head was bowed as per protocol. Although the coming of the Light in human form was kept in utter secrecy, he had a feeling that it was not always so. If the Carp that previously guarded this lake could track Chihiro down, so could others before him. He had no doubt of it whatsoever. There would be others who would have watched the lifetime of the Light, formed by the excess of Nature's energies, energies that held so much power that it would exhaust itself within a human lifetime... "If you have known it, of course."

The tortoise looked up when he gained the permission to, and said, "Actually, Haku-sama, I have." Those words were filled the light of memory, and Haku braced himself for what seemed to be a long tale, for Tortoises, especially those that had lived a great deal of time, were infamously long-winded as Dragons had been famous for their stubbornness. And so, the Tortoise begun his tale...

* * *

_Now, Haku-sama, I was only a young boy when it happened, about… six or seven milennia ago. I was wooing a pretty young thing from the opposite river when I noticed a Carp-Spirit taking human-form holding a hand of a woman from the western parts of the world, judging by her light skin and height, running deep into the forest. Being a hot-blooded youth, I managed to get my then-sweetheart to come with me in following them. _

_Now, we Tortoises are fast creatures in youth, so we were able to catch up with them, and we suddenly noticed that there were many, many others that were on their trail as well. Tanuki, Itachi, Owls from Russia, Snakes from Burma, you name it, you've got it. I would have you know that my little companion was a little scared by those tigers that came from the jungles of the Malay Archipelago! Oh, forgive me, where was I? Oh yes, it seemed that the other spirits were after the human, and were quite literally calling after her blood. _

_My dear Haku-sama, I must tell you how scared the two of us were in that scenario, two younglings without an inch of combat experience. We can only thank the Heavens because we kept to our original forms, unlike the other Spirits. _

_Anyways, I remembered that they all fought their way up a mountain path, and then, the path stopped at a clearing, where the tallest waterfall that I've ever seen stood. And smack on top of it, Haku-sama, was a gate, it was green and white, I believe, and right under that gate, was a huge stone sculpture that looked like a great big bowl so large that I think a full-grown human could bathe in it. _

"_There's no use running!" said one of the Spirits in the mob chasing the Carp and the girl. If I remember correctly, it was an Ox, er, no, an Elephant… Yes, he was an Elephant, dressed like the Maharajas of the Indus Valley. He sounded his great trunk like a trumpet and shouted towards the Carp. "Hand over the girl and you will be free, Carp!"_

_And the Carp just raised his sword, not afraid at all. "Even if I handed her to you, you would have to fight amongst yourselves for her blood," he told the Elephant. "Why should I even listen to you? No one knows the effects that her blood has on any of us!"_

_The Carp was right, you know? No one really knew what exactly would happen to a Spirit who ingests the human form of the Light. Why, my grandmother had been the handmaid of the Light-human three times before and she told me that the girl just passed on like any Human, old and withered. Oh, forgive me again, Haku-sama, where was I?_

_Ah, the human girl, however, had other ideas in her pretty little head. Without even batting an eyelash, she took the dagger she armed herself with and placed its blade near her neck. "You will listen to me!" she proclaimed, and all of the Spirits focused upon her. "If you speak another word, I will kill myself here, and you will have to wait for another five thousand years!" Five thousand years is still a long time for us Spirits, Haku-sama, so of course, all of them obeyed her. _

_You should have seen their faces, Haku-sama! All of them were instantly fearful that she might actually commit suicide then and there, and even the Elephant lowered his scimitar. The Carp looked at the girl with this perplexed expression on his face, and he asked her, "What are you doing?"_

"_Turning the situation around," she told him, and took his hand in hers. Together, they walked up to the summit of the waterfall, followed closely by the other Spirits, and she stood before the stone… thing. "I am the Light in human form, and I can choose who I wish to bestow my blood to, and you will not stop me."_

_And those brigands and vandals decided to resolve the issue the best way they knew how. They started killing one another, in the hopes of being the very last person alive so as to receive her blood out of lack of choice. And of course, there would be those who were so devious that they would just kill her and drain her blood for themselves, like the Elephant, who crept behind her when the Carp was busy dueling with an Eagle. _

"_You are mine," the foul beast told the girl, and she struggled to push him off her, which was little help. I wished I was brave enough to snap at the brute's ankles, but he's an Elephant, and Elephants have thick hides, you see…_

"_I belong to no one," the girl replied, and took a step closer towards the edge of the waterfall. "Do you think that I am fear death so much that I would go back on my own words?"_

_And once again, the fighting ceased. The Carp killed a Bat, and cast the corpse of his dead foe aside… And before anyone could do anything, the girl held her hand over the stone thing and cut her wrist. You should have seen it, Haku-sama! Once the first drop of blood reached the bottom, a great light blinded all of us! It was such a spectacle, and when we could see again, the girl was gone, and the Carp was standing where her blood had been dripped into. Only that he was no longer a Carp, but a Dragon! The other spirits, save for us Tortoises were killed also, can you imagine that!

* * *

_

A Carp, becoming a Dragon?

* * *

"And what became of this Dragon?" Haku asked the Tortoise, his brow furrowed.

"I don't know, Haku-sama. But I do know one thing, the Dragon looked as if he had forgotten everything, and lived as though a spirit newly-born," the Tortoise answered. "He wandered away by himself before we could speak to him, and that was the last of what we've seen of him."

Haku still did not understand. "And why is it that the Carp becomes a Dragon, can he not take another form?"

The Tortoise actually had the audacity to laugh at his words. If Haku had been in a foul mood, the Tortoise would be but a shell for such insolence, but he needed whatever information the reptile could give him. "Haku-sama, Carps are the Sons of the Dragons!" the Tortoise said, with a slight twinge of condescension in his tone of voice. "They may not look like it, but when Carps gain great power, they turn into Dragons! Pretty lucky creatures in my books, those are, if you asked me. I'll be lucky if I became a crocodile if I had the chance!"

* * *

Carps are the Sons of the Dragons?

* * *

Did he have any memory of his mother? No, he did not, in fact. Did he have any token of his own childhood as a Dragon-hatchling? No, he had none at all… Could it be…

Haku knew that he could not jump to conclusions so quickly, not when there were precautions to be taken. "And did you tell anyone about this?" he asked the Tortoise, it was of utter importance, because information of the Light could only be given by those who had been touched by her, or her power.

"Of course I did!" the Tortoise replied. "Haku-sama, I am a chronicler by profession… it is a high honor to even be part of such an event!" So, the whole Spirit-Realm could have access to records of what happened five thousand years ago. "However… due to a great fire in the library that I worked in, only a copy survived, and it was locked in the vaults, reserved only to those who knew how to find it."

"And what is the riddle?" Haku asked the Tortoise who merely shrugged.

"They change it every three hundred years or so," the Tortoise answered. "Even I don't know the latest one, Haku-sama, forgive me."

The Tortoise seemed to be telling the truth, and Haku said, "There is nothing to forgive." The Tortoise was relieved, but not Haku. "Can you tell me where the library is?" he asked, and the Tortoise did not need a long time to give him an answer.

"Why, it's built right below the bathhouse you worked in!" the Tortoise added. "The entrance is at the bottom floor, I'm surprised that you don't already know about that, though."

* * *

HAN: Yay for another update! But I won't be updating until Sunday, because I'll be out of town for the weekend! Sorry! Anyways, all will be fine after this weekend, I promise! Thanks to all who reviewed, and I hope you do enjoy this twist that I've come out with. ^.^


	8. The Loves and Conspiracies

"_Haku, you must leave!" she told him, holding his hands in hers the very moment she heard the various voices of approaching Spirits screaming after her and her blood. However, Haku was adamant that he remained by her side. Instead, he kissed her hand, and released them before unsheathing his sword. It was a beautiful broadsword, made of silver that reflected the light of the full moon, encrusted with emeralds and sapphires upon the blood, while the hilt sported elegant curves, made of gold and inlaid with rubies… A weapon made by and born from his own power, a weapon that only he could wield to full effect…_

_With emerald eyes clearer than the night sky above them, Haku said, "I will fight to the death to protect you, my love, you have my word." She knew that he meant every single word of it. She knew that his very heart and soul was poured into those words. That was why she could only nod her head. _

_She took out her dagger and cast a sideways glance to him. "Alright, if you wish, do not slow me down." Opening the doors to the abandoned temple where they had sought shelter, she said, "If you are indeed a Son of the Dragon, then this is the time to show your quality." Her words were teasing, but it brought a smile to his lips. _

"_Quick, they stopped here!"_

"_She's mine!"_

_Whoever was chasing after them, they were quickly gaining on them, and they had to run fast. "There is a back door that leads to across a river. We can lose them there," he told her, and took her hand. Together, they ran out the back door, and across a river that was waist-deep, with little fishes within it that shined like amber and gold. It had no name yet, for it was only a new river… _

_Together, they waded through the water, and reached the other shore, where a gate of jade and pearl atop a perilous mountain loomed over them.

* * *

_

Chihiro woke up startled by the dream that she had seen. The Haku that she had seen in her dream was not the Haku she knew. This Haku, although still as handsome and still as caring, he held less… power. Even without remembering that he had been the Dragon that saved her from drowning when she was a child, this Haku seemed a bit more docile and also more willing to fight, despite knowing that he would not have full control of the situation. The Haku that she knew would not even take such a risk.

And her voice… She had spoken in that dream with another voice, a voice which was not hers… Why was that?

"Chihiro," entered another voice, one that she had recognized as that of Haku's. "Chihiro, you must come with me," he told her when she turned towards the direction of his voice. The stern expression on his face that she had known his childhood was present, and it lightened her heart. If it had been anything otherwise, she knew that things would be utterly amiss.

"Coming," she replied with a groan. It was too early to be up, not when she had just slaved after Yubaba's accounts the previous night. It was a great nightmare, particularly when everything was in such disarray. She saw his smile breaking through, and smiled back. Rubbing her eyes, she stood up lazily and found that he was no longer there, as if he had moved away from her room in mere seconds…

Completely disregarding his sudden disappearance, she washed and got dressed in her work-clothes. She found him standing right outside her door, with his arms crossed, and leaning against the wall. "Before we go anywhere, I have something to give you," he told her, and pressed a curved dagger into her hands. It was sheathed in white snakeskin, and when she unsheathed it, it was revealed to something like the sword that she had seen in her dream, only that it had a group of rubies centered by obsidian in the shape of a flower. "Use this to protect yourself when you have to, and I fear that that day comes faster than I have expected."

Chihiro looked at Haku and accepted the dagger. If what she had seen in the dream that she had was any indication to her days in the future, or her experience in the past, she would have to do better than be able to run with him beside her. "Can you teach me how to use it?"

Haku clearly did not expect her to say anything like that. "If this is what you would ask of me, I will gladly do as you wish," he replied, giving her a curt and short bow, one that she did could not ever imagine deserving. "However, Chihiro, you need not learn how to use it, because this was yours in your last incarnation. For some reason, it had been in my treasure-hoard for many years and I did not discover it until I returned to it after you gave me my name."

It was pure instinct that led Chihiro to unsheathe the dagger and to start attacking, parrying, blocking and thrusting the dagger at unseen foes, and Haku, was astounded at his own theory. He had seen that dagger in his dreams of the past, but he was… curious to know if she could have wielded it as she had in the past. And suddenly, she stopped. "I definitely need some work with that," she said, "That last parry was so off color…"

Haku could only watch as she halted everything that she was doing and slump into a little ball as she had always done, with her hands cradling her head. "Chihiro…" he soothed, placing his arm over her shoulders.

"What am I, Haku?" she asked him. "Why is all this happening to me?"

He sighed. There was nothing to tell her, but the truth and only the truth. "Chihiro, what you are experiencing now are glimpses of your past, coming out to aid you. My belief is that your memories of the past are often intact, and instinct will allow you to draw on what you knew," he answered, their foreheads touching one another's.

"I… I saw you, in a dream," Chihiro told him after she had calmed down a bit. "You had this sword that has so many jewels, and you… killed so many Spirits…"

"All to protect your past self, Chihiro," Haku replied. His emerald eyes were level with hers, and he caressed the back of her hand with his thumb, kissing it lightly before he spoke again. "I was bound to you then, as I am bound to you now. I love you, I have loved you all those years ago, and I loved you ever since you returned to me when you were but a child."

Chihiro did not know what to say, or what to think for that matter. This Dragon had said words to her that she had only dreamed of since she returned to what she once knew as the "real world", and now, he was there before her, telling her that he loved her, that he had loved her also in a lifetime long past… But in all honesty, she loved him too. Kamaji had already noticed it when she was twelve, and Zeniba as well, for she told her so many years ago that only love could break the spell she had placed on the seal that Haku had stolen…

Murmuring his name, she brought her arms around his neck, embracing him. He wound his around her body, enveloping her in the safe blanket that was his warmth. Surprisingly, for a Dragon, which should be considered as a reptile, he was so, so warm to her and his heartbeat, rapid like a war-dance… She did not need to repeat the words that he had said to her, it would be utterly pointless. He knew her heart more than she knew it herself, and thus, she did the most natural thing to do.

She kissed him. Then and there in the hallway leading to the elevator, where people would most probably spot them. She did not care about such trivialities, and closed any distance between them both. In either case, it was the first time they were locked in sweet embrace, where the proverbial "fireworks" sparked within them as their lips met and parted along with their tongues.

If he could have his way, they would be in his lake and he would have made her his wife in every way, but he knew that he could not. "My love," he called her, the same words he used in her previous form, gently pulling away from her, knowing that she was far too out of breath to continue further. "If I could, I would lay down ten lifetimes for you…"

"Don't," she replied. "Two from you is more than enough." They shared a chuckle, and once again, she was in his arms. His fingers, they were entangled in her hair, and she was where she belonged, which was wherever he was. "Haku, we really need to stop of we're going to do anything. I can't defend myself if I work as an accountant at night and stand here making out with you at day."

"Then let us not waste further time," he said, and kissed her forehead one last time before he led her to a place where she could practice with the dagger.

* * *

"Are you certain of t

* * *

his?" the Carp asked the Ten-Thousand-Year-Old Tortoise when the latter had come before him in his hideout, saying that Haku already knew of what events had transcended during the coming of the previous human embodiment of the Light. "You have told him of his former self, as the Prince of us Carps?"

The Tortoise nodded, and received a bag of gold from the Carp. "Yes, my lord," the Tortoise answered. "The Dragon was… somewhat shocked at the fact that he had been once a Carp like you are, but he takes it all in stride. He made no fuss of it, but immediately returned to the bathhouse with a certain degree of urgency."

"He is no longer Yubaba's apprentice, is he not?" the Carp retorted. "Surely he no longer has ties to that place… Unless…" If anything Haku has proven himself to be one who will give everything to protect what he loved and what was his. It had been proven by how the waters of his former river reacted to that of his lake, and how he had valiantly come to the rescue of the human girl. "The girl is in the bathhouse, under the protection of Yubaba."

"The Dragon has also told me in one occasion that he had met a human in the bathhouse more or less a decade ago," the Tortoise added. "He told me that he once saved her from drowning as a child, and that he has some… feelings towards her. Thousands of years ago, he was in love with the Light-human as well, I might note."

No wonder he was highly protective of her, no wonder the young Dragon was so quick to kill others to defend her… "And what would you gain in betraying your master and liege-lord?" the Carp asked the Tortoise. "You were quick to go to his side as you were quick to return to mine."

The Tortoise bowed his head. "Still, it does not erase the fact that a long time ago, his sire had murdered my entire family, and I was forced to live under the care of my betrothed, to the anger of her father… This is a vengeance that I have to exact, and to do so, I have to gain his trust. Forgive me if I have offended you at any way."

"And what quarrel would my old King have with you Tortoises?"

"Well, the boy," the Tortoise replied almost simply. "We Tortoises were retainers of your royal family, but when the boy refused to give the Light-Human to his father, we were charged to retrieve the girl. Of course, we failed, and the boy is now a Dragon-God, while your King had us all executed, save for me, because I was only but a boy then."

The Carp clasped the Tortoise's shoulder and said, "And that is why you have led the boy to the library vault, where he will find all the answers he will seek with the Light-Human, where we will be able to trap them and destroy them both… You have done well, and you will be handsomely rewarded."

* * *

HAN: Aaahhh, sorry for being two days late! I was a bit... occupied yesterday watching the Tudors (We don't have it here in Malaysia so I had to download it) and I came back rather late Sunday evening! I hope all of you had a beautiful Valentine's Day yesterday!


	9. The Enemy

"You know, it was only a matter of time before the two of you got together," Zeniba told Haku as they walked through the many hallways of the bathhouse together while Chihiro was working on the accounts that had not been settled yet (she figured that the backlog would take weeks, if not months to sort out, but since the bathhouse did not seem to be losing money, and that the rest of them were well, immortal, her work as not hurried at all). "If I did not guess wrongly, my young nephew had already started a betting ring on several progresses regarding your relationship…"

Haku really did not know whether to laugh or to cry at her words. Gossip was of course commonplace in any single plane of existence, but gossip generated from within the walls of the bathhouse was particular potent, and every twist was considered as the one and only truth. It made his head throb, although it was contrary to his existence. "The child is older in spirit than his mother expects," was all that he could say to Zeniba, who laughed at his response. "Soon enough, we will have a gambling den beside the bathhouse and the two of them will rule this part of the Spirit-Realm financially."

"That is exactly why my sister allowed Bou to start the betting," Zeniba smiled. "In any case, it is good that she does not smother him as much now. I heard that my own nephew has quite a stranglehold over his mother right now."

"I can confirm that," Haku replied, remembering a fond memory in which he had secured his freedom with the help of the huge child. "However, this is not why I wanted to see you for. I have received information that there was a great library-vault that this bathhouse was built over. Is this true?"

The Witch looked downright incredulous. "Of course it's true, boy!" she exclaimed, being rather exasperated in tonality. "How long have you worked here? Surely my sister would have sent you down to retrieve some books or scrolls from the vault!"

However, what she got from Haku was a mere shrug. "Not that I remember of, no," he answered. And finally, the riddle of how Yubaba was able to gain access to such a large volume of tomes regarding magic and magical items was solved. Often, during the times of his apprenticeship he wondered how she would just go "downstairs" and what she would be doing there.

"Well, good luck trying to find anything there if you don't know what to look for," Zeniba muttered. "There are so many books and shelves there, it forms a complete maze. If you get lost in there, no one will be able to get you out. You'll need a guide to navigate that place."

And thus, yet another question was raised. "How did Yubaba get what she wants then?" Haku asked, looking at the Zeniba, his brow furrowed as he sought the answer. "Don't tell me that it's just as simple as she being in the library for so long and so many years that she naturally already knows her way in and out…" The Dragon placed his thumb and middle finger on each of his temples, as if anticipating a headache.

"You can ask her to be your guide, you know," Zeniba said, deliberately petting Haku's head as if he was some benign creature. "My sister may be haughty and materialistic with a slight twinge of nastiness, but she is not altogether evil. How many pigs in her pen that she had slaughtered were humans? Not one!"

Haku knew that this was the only way… "I need to get to the library," he said. "I have received… visions of a past that I cannot remember, visions regarding Chihiro in her previous lifetimes as the being of Light. If information regarding the Light can only be passed to those who have been touched by it, the Tortoise that lived in my lake had published an entire book regarding what happened thousands of years ago. I cannot allow that book to be taken by others. If not…"

"I understand," Zeniba replied. "So, I'll help you. But we'd better hurry, I sense a strong presence coming here, and it's out for blood… I just hope that Chihiro is safe in her little study."

* * *

"Uh… Uh…" No-Face said to Chihiro, showing her a receipt that she had miscalculated.

"Wrong again?" she asked him, and he nodded, somewhat sadly. "It's the fourth time I've missed something… I wish there was some way Yubaba could give me these things in order and not all over the place!"

No-Face just took out an abacus and started counting again, before getting a pen from Chihiro's desk to make the necessary corrections. "Uh… Uh…" he uttered, seemingly pleased with what he had done. This meant that this week's costs were up to twenty thousand gold pieces, and most of them were due to transportation. It seemed that the kitchens used ingredients that were sourced from locales that were far away from the bathhouse…

Chihiro just grimaced. "I'm going to go crazy, she doesn't expect me to increase her profits after sorting how much money she has, does she?" she asked No-Face, who only answered with a shrug. "I'd do anything to get out of this stuffy office…" With a somewhat lazy yawn, she continued, "But that's not really possible, is it?" For one, she was in "office duty" because of her own protection. Haku might not have told Yubaba specifically that she was currently being hunted down by a Carp, but somehow, she was so gar kept away from assisting anyone with the customers at the baths, and she was rather grateful for it.

"Uh… Uh…"

"I know, it's for my safety," she replied, trying to balance yet another sheet of numbers.

And just as she least expected it, Yubaba came into the room, barking yet another set of others. "Sen, I need you to get down to the baths now. We have a well-paying customer and since some of the Yunna are on their day off, we're a little bit shorthanded."

No-Face, however, did not agree with the arrangement at all. "Uh… Uh!" he growled, and Yubaba looked up at him as if she would tear off the mask that served as his face if he dared to try anything.

"She is my employee and she does exactly I tell her to," the Witch said, and grabbed Chihiro by the wrist, leading her out the door. "Now, Rin is waiting for you outside. She'll tell you what to do."

With seemingly no other alternatives, Chihiro hung her head and went out of the room to meet Rin, who smiled at her sheepishly and threw her hands to about shoulder level, shaking her head. "Well, she's the boss," Rin told her, and the two women had no choice but to go down the elevators to complete the task that awaited them.

"So, what are we supposed to do this time?" Chihiro asked Rin, remembering that they had to tend to a polluted River-God who was oozing with sludge and stank to high heaven.

"It won't be as bad as the last time, if that's what's your asking about," Rin encouraged. "We just have to bring these dishes up to a customer. Judging by the amount of fish eggs he ordered, he must be another fish… I heard that carps eat the eggs of other fish… Chihiro?"

At the very mention of the word "Carp", Chihiro's blood froze. In all hope, the customer that they were sending the trays of food to was not the one that was after her blood, and she hoped that she could quickly get over it and be done with it. Although it was not her nature to be so fearful for an enemy, she knew that her blood was so powerful that if it got into the wrong hands, a great danger might follow… It was her duty to stay alive, and the best way she did that was to get away from danger for as long as possible.

"I'm fine," she said, forcing her ever-present smile so as to convince Rin further. "There's nothing to worry about at all."

Rin sighed. "Alright, if you say so. Just make sure that you don't trip or fall and you'll be fine."

* * *

The Carp cursed. If not for his plans to enter the lower reaches of the bathhouse, he would not even enter that establishment at all. He deemed it too opulent, too ostentatious, particularly due to Yubaba, the owner of the bathhouse's taste for terribly gaudy pieces of interior decor that belonged in an antique shop. And in addition to that, there was also the sheer number of other spirits there. He did not tolerate the claustrophobia-inducing amount of Spirits that were there. And if he skimped upon the expenses, he would be sharing the same baths and rooms with others. He shuddered at the thought.

That was why he rented out a private room with his own bath there. No instrusions. No disturbances, and no need to mix with the befouled, lethargic riffraff. He would then have the time to think of further ways to locate the Light-blessed human while fending off that Dragon that sought to protect her.

Frankly speaking, it was a little hard for the Carp to believe that Haku was previously from the (now abolished and resolved) monarchy of the Carp-Spirits, and that he was the one who was featured in the legends, in which he had become a Dragon after receiving the blood of the Light-human. However, it seemed as if the Dragon had no memories of what happened over the last five thousand years, which was rather strange indeed. If this would happen to him as well... It was a gamble that he had to take.

He did not trust the Tortoise, nor did he dare to. The old one had a questionable sense of loyalty, and he was not ready to put his faith into whatever he had said so easily.

"Excuse us, sir," rang a sweet female voice, as per custom in the bathhouse. "We're here to serve you dinner."

Two women entered. Both in pink work-clothes, they were equal in height. In terms of power, one of them was mediocre, a Tanuki (raccoon) at best, while the other... the other was a little different. Not only was he unable to gauge her abilities, but her presence was almost invisible to him. This meant that she would either be nothing more than a wraith or that she was protected by power charms and magics, cast by powerful spell-casters.

The other girl was silent, and quickly retreated behind the Tanuki. "Enjoy your meal, sir," the Tanuki said, and bowed before turning to leave.

"Wait," the Carp said. "You there, come, let me see you."

* * *

"What the hell did you do?" Haku asked Yubaba. He was very rarely moved to such harsh language, but he made this occurrence an exception. Those emerald eyes were filled with rage when he knew that the Witch had sent Chihiro to serve food to the Carp that was hunting her down. He did not care whether the Carp was former nobility or was rich to the brim, Chihiro must never exposed to such dangers so needlessly!

Yubaba crossed her arms. "I just did what was best," she answered. "I see no harm in having her away from the office. She can't stand being cooped out for so long,"

"Do you not realize that Chihiro is here for her protection?" Haku asked, summoning a sheathed broadsword into his hands. "You will come with me. I will fetch her immediately. Meet me at the entrance to the library vault as soon as possible."

"I believe that I have a say in this," Yubaba harrumphed, but Haku snarled at her.

The Dragon was not to be toyed with. Not at this time. "I am a God, Witch, and you will do well to remember that. Whether or not you have taught me before, it does not erase the fact that I am more powerful than you are. When I say that I will kill you if anything happens to Chihiro, I mean it!"

* * *

The Carp was stunned. As he had suspected, the Light-Human was right there before him, but just as he was able to get a hold of her, the little wench revealed that she was armed with a dagger and slashed his arm with it. "Come now, child," he said. "You do not want to be playing with such a dangerous weapon."

"Don't come any closer," the Light-Human threatened, and aimed the dagger to her own arm. If she was allowed to shed even a drop of her blood, everything that he had done and everything that he will achieve will be gone.

"Sen!" the Tanuki called out to her, and with a flick of his wrist, was sent flying towards a beam in the room. She fell unconscious upon hitting the tatami flooring of the room. He was lucky that the other woman proved to be hardly a challenge.

The human took a step back, and she herself found that she was cornered at the far edge of the room, with no way of escape. "Now, now, little human, do not think that you are able to throw your own weight in the quarrel between Gods and Spirits. Your little Dragon protector is nothing more than a boy. He knows nothing..."

"Haku!" the girl exclaimed, her brown-hued eyes brightening immediately. The Dragon was here?

He did not have time to react, nor did he have time to face his enemy, for before he was even able to turn towards his enemy, he heard a deafening roar, felt the mighty talons of the Dragon upon his body, rending scale and flesh. Black covered his vision, and he no longer had the girl in his grasp.

* * *

HAN: Here it is, Chapter 9! I hope you liked it!


	10. The Library

"My love, forgive me," Haku apologized when they arrived at a hallway that Chihiro had never seen before. She had descended from the top level of the bathhouse, which was Yubaba's office and living-quarters, to the lowest levels at Kamaji's boiler-room. This was definitely not an extension to the six-armed Spirit's workplace at all. "I brought you here because there is a book that will reveal everything about the two of us, about what happened in your previous incarnation. If that foul Carp is able to get it before we do, he will know how to get to the Dragon's Gate…"

In all obvious fact, she knew the concern that he had for her. If they had been lovers in a previous life (and she was very, very sure of that), then it must have been utterly painful for him these past millennia, even if he could not remember anything about it. "Haku, I'm fine," she reassured him, her hands resting on his well-built chest, looking into those emerald eyes that threatened death and dismemberment only but a few minutes ago.

Those three words had a profound effect over the Dragon. Relief washed over him the very instant he heard them, and he enveloped her in his arms without a moment to lose. He closed his eyes as he inhaled the sweet scent of her hair and nuzzled on the arch of her neck, content that for a while longer, she was out of danger's way. And then, he smiled, and lifted her chin with her finger and thumb. "Only you, Chihiro, can make me feel so powerless when I am a God, and you yourself seem so mighty when you are only human."

She chuckled, watching a torch appearing into his hands. The dim light coming from the orange flame illuminated his angular, handsome features, and she could not suppress the urge to smile when she looked at him. But still, it could not change the fact that they were pressed for time as it was. The second time she looked at Haku, she noticed the perplexed expression about him. "What's going on, Haku?" she asked him. "Is there anything wrong?"

"Yubaba was supposed to be here by now," he said, taking her hand in his. "She is the only person that we can trust to help us navigate the library-vault that will not kill us by sight… But I am afraid…"

"Stop worrying your pretty Dragon scales off," Yubaba snapped. Her plate-sized eyes were the only things that could be seen in the darkness of the hallways, and when she came into the light of the torch, she pointed towards the corridor to the right. "Come on, the library is this way, there's no time to lose."

Duly, Haku offered the Witch a curt nod and walked behind her, giving her the torch. "And what of that insolent Carp?" he asked the Witch. "How have you dealt with him?" If that blasted fish ever dared to lay a hand on Chihiro once again, he swore to the heavens and the earth, he would tear him apart fin from fin.

"He's a paying customer," Yubaba replied. "We can't do anything to him except make sure that he's restrained long enough until you get what you want from the library and make a run for it. With the sleeping-draught that Kamaji gave him, I'd expect that he'll wake about six hours later."

"Hopefully, we'll have enough time to get what we want by then," Haku sighed, and continued walking.

* * *

The corridor ended, and they arrived at the beginning of what seemed to be flights of stairs. Yubaba told them that they were to descend a further four stories, to signify the depths that they would go to for the quest of knowledge, or something of the sort, and after a lengthy descent, they reached a vault with steel doors, with lattice patterns depicting almost every flower imaginable.

There was also a lock, elaborate designed, of gold and silver, in the shape of a snake, coiled around a shield. And upon the shield, was a lion, a dragon, a phoenix, a tiger and an elephant, the meaning of such a depiction unknown to Haku and Yubaba. It was highly obvious that they would need to offer some sort of sacrifice, for the teeth and claws of the animals upon the shield were made of silver, and the mouths of the each of them seemed as if they were designed to hold liquid.

"How crude," Haku chided, pricking his finger with the silver tusks of the elephant, dropping his blood into the mouths of each of the beasts. "A sacrifice of the blood, and whoever built this place must have thought that all of us fear for our lives more than anything."

Yubaba shook her head. "See here, young Haku, is that you'll always be nothing but an impertinent boy." Taking five coins from her pocket, the Witch laid each of them upon the heads of the protruded heads of the beasts, and stepped back, crossing her arms. "No matter who you are, blood and gold are the greatest sacrifices that one can give for the sake of knowledge. Have I taught you nothing?"

Seconds passed, and something most magical happened. The tiger, lion and dragon roared in their own manner, the elephant trumpeted with its trunk, and the phoenix let out a most high-noted call complete with a sad song. The mechanism had been activated, and slowly, gear by gear, the doors of the library started to open.

And the wider the doors opened, the more torches had come alight within the library-vault. And it was revealed that they had to descend four stories worth of stairs, because this library was four stories tall floor to ceiling, and despite it being called a vault, the library had windows all over, which really told much about the unexplained number of windows from Kamaji's boiler-room downwards (because said boiler-room was technically at the lowest level of the bathhouse).

The light of the full moon shone through the windows, and they walked in, beholding the height of the shelves, all four stories high, holding countless partitions to hold the infinite number of books there. For ease of traversing the shelves, there was a dizzying network of platforms and staircases, which ran parallel to each story-height of the bookshelves, leading to central points where the bookshelves began and ended, a network that began with the staircase right before them.

"How are we supposed to search for the book we want?" Chihiro asked Yubaba, who seemed to be highly annoyed by her question. However, it seemed that mere seconds later, her slightly miffed expression disappeared when Haku seemed to have discovered something.

"So, what do you feel, boy?" Yubaba asked him. "Any particular direction that you want to go to?"

It was not a tease, that much Haku knew. He looked above him, and noticed that there was a series of words on the tapestry not far from them. "Let your heart guide you to what you seek," he read, and gave Yubaba a small, courteous bow. "I thank you, Witch," he said to her.

Yubaba only managed to chuckle and shake her head. "You know, if I hated the both of you so much, I would've killed you the moment I saw you. It would save me the trouble of finding you jobs, and in your case, boy, training you to use magic when you lost your memories for a second time. My sister doesn't know it, but I knew who you were even before you became a Dragon. You must have received a great amount of power to become what you are now. Frankly, I don't care why that Carp is after you, but you must realize that it takes a lot for a Carp to turn against his own Prince."

After having said those words, Yubaba left the library, and closed the vaulted doors, but it was not the supposed lack of exit points that startled Chihiro. It was Yubaba's statements about Haku. "You were a Carp once?" she asked him. "How did you become a Dragon then?"

Haku smiled, and caressed the side of her face. "That is a question that we came here to answer, Chihiro," he told her, and took her hand in his. Smoothing his thumb over the back of her hand, he kissed it and lead her to where the book was calling out to him, to where he knew what they would find was. "There was a Tortoise that lived in my lake who told me about what happened millennia ago," he explained as they ascended a flight of stairs and passed by ten bookshelves. "What he told me matched my visions completely, and although I am not sure if whether what Yubaba and he had said are true, I have a hunch that they might hold some accuracy."

"What have you seen?" she asked him, her voice growing small, not out of fear for her current situation, but out of fear of forcing him to remember something he clearly did not wish to. She had her own shares of vision, but it was only of him and her, the two of them running across the mountains and the plains, nothing more.

"Of running, and terrible battles past," he replied. "My love, the knowledge of what you are can only be passed by those touched by your presence and your love. In this life, I have chosen to give that knowledge to Zeniba, and no other, but I do not know what happened in the past before the last moment where you granted me your blood."

So, that was how she had died in the past? She gave her life to Haku?

"I did?" she asked, and Haku stopped moving. He turned towards her and kissed her deeply, his powerful arms enveloping her waist.

"Yes, Chihiro," he answered, kissing her forehead before piercing her brown eyes with his emerald ones. "That is why I love you so, my love. Whether in this life or in the previous one, you have given me everything that I have. It is you who shaped me into everything that I am, and I swear to you, no matter what happens to you, no matter what you become, I will be by your side."

There was but one problem about his promise, and Chihiro knew that it was not a small matter at all. "I'll die one day," she told him. "Whether or not anyone takes my blood. I'll still grow old and die." Tears streamed down her face, and Haku knew clearly that those tears were never meant for her, they were meant for him. "I'm not worth waiting for. When I'm reborn, I won't even remember you…"

"It doesn't matter," he told her. "You will grow old and die, but I will not. So long as the earth is hale, you will be returned to me every five thousand years, and I will be right here with you to protect you as I have sworn to do in Zeniba's cottage, do you not remember?" Chihiro nodded, but he gave her no time to speak further. Sweet as that moment had been, he knew that there were more important things to be done, and the sooner the task was completed, the easier the days of their future would be for them.

Not long after, they were once again at the lowest level of the library, and were right before a sparkling fountain with tables and chairs to read on. "Chronology of the Royal spirits?" Chihiro asked, looking at the shelf's name.

"I have not told you before, but Spirits are governed by their respective monarchs," Haku explained to her. "It is not exactly as democratic as what you humans might like, but it works for us." They walked into the platform of the shelf and he closed his eyes, as if about to sense the presence of the book that he was searching for. And then, he found it. "'The Tale of Light: The Controversy of the Royal Carp Family, and the Dragon that Rose from it', this must be it, my love."

Together, they removed the book, which was only as thick as a science-fiction novel, but measured three feet in height and three in width. The leather-bound book had a lock, however, there was nothing that looked like a key. In fact, the book stood upright by itself when they laid it on the table. "Whosoever wishes to peer into my contents will first have to answer this riddle: My lord has twenty rings, but he is the master of one in the land where it is neither above nor it is below. Now, name me that most stubborn of all creatures, in the tongue of the Fair Folk of that land?"

Haku was stumped. He had never known of a lord that had twenty rings, or a land that was in the middle of something… However, the book did not turn towards him at all, but was in fact, speaking to Chihiro, almost expecting her to come out with an answer.

* * *

_Dragons are such stubborn creatures…_

_Tolkien would say "Sa meleth i amlug", I guess…

* * *

_

Zeniba had given her clues to this riddle even before she knew that they were to be faced with a riddle! All that she needed to do was to decipher which word of the sentence that Zeniba had uttered could be translated into the word "dragon"…

Tolkien's works had not been strange to her, and she knew it. In her childhood, not long after she had emerged from that tunnel with her parents, her father had brought her to the theater to watch the first movie of nine warriors trying to accomplish a most dangerous task of saving the world. She was so inspired that she had to read the books the movie had been based on, and she even learnt the language that the author himself had invented…

So what was the word for dragon?

She looked at Haku, and she remembered that the word of "love" was "meleth", and "i" was "the". Hence, there was only one possibility, and that was…

"Amlug," Chihiro told the book, the iron will of her childhood surfacing once again.

"And right you are, child," the book replied, falling silent after it set itself on the table and opened its cover, much to Haku's astonishment.

The Dragon kissed her forehead as they sat down to read the book's contents. The information that they needed to cover would have cost all others who have searched for it more than hundreds of human lifetimes, but they managed to locate and unlock it in just an hour's worth of wandering. "You are amazing, my love," he praised her. "You must tell me how you come by such a language when all this is over."

"I will," Chihiro replied. "I promise."

* * *

HAN: Well, sorry for the bit of Sindarin there. It was completely necessary, I assure you! ^.^ Yes, if you have not noticed, I am a major fan of the Lord of the Rings, hehehehe! Chihiro's experience with LOTR was roughly how I experienced it when I was ten, and I was ten when Spirited Away came out too!

And oh yes, thanks to all who reviewed, and I will see you all on the next update!

Song that inspired this update: Baba Yetu, by Christopher Tin (Civilization 4 OST)


	11. The Past

_The news that a white-skinned princess from the lands to the north had reached to almost every soul upon that small group of islands, and as her white-sailed ship reached the coastline, there had already been news that the new bride was the most beautiful thing on this side of the globe. They said that her eyes shone alike the gold mines of King Solomon, her hair was red like that the flame… Some even said that she had the blood of the spirits in her veins, which contributed to why she was so beautiful. _

_However, no matter how she looked like, it did not change the fact that she was not able to change her own fate. Young as she was, learned as she had been, she was still here in these strange lands to become a bride to the son of a powerful lord, and she was forced to learn a foreign tongue in order to be able to communicate with her future husband and his family, one that would see her as nothing more than a barbarian concubine. _

"_Stop," she told the procession that would bear her to the city of her future husband when they came to a river. Tired of being in a palanquin for the whole day, she ignored her maidens and walked towards the water's edge. The sound of running water was so enticing, and it reminded her of the small little brook near the palace where she had lived. _

"_My lady!" her guide shouted towards her. "My lady, it is not wise to go to the water!"_

_She furrowed her brows. "And why is it so?" she asked in annoyance. She was tired of people telling what she could or could not do and was utterly sick of every single restriction placed upon her. Gold eyes looked towards the guide in defiance, waiting for him to give her a viable answer. _

_The guide was hesitant to even speak further, even when ordered to. He knew that the foreign princess was getting impatient and decided to tell her the truth. "They say that a family of Carp-Spirits resides in this river, my lady," he explained. "They hold great power and are generally hostile towards us humans. It is best not to anger them."_

"_Carp-Spirits, you say?" she asked the guide. "And why do you fear them so? Surely there are Crocodiles that you must fear more than the Carps?" She did not mean to jest at the spirits. But why would they fear Carps at all? Are they not but a common fish that humans catch in their nets for food? _

_The guide bowed his head and said no further. He knew that she had meant no harm, blaming it on her being an unwilling bride in an unknown country. "We will camp here for the night with your permission then, my lady," he said, and she nodded, giving her consent. _

_Her maids looked at her, not knowing what they should do, particularly after hearing what their guide had to say. "Mistress, perhaps it would be wise not anger the spirits?" one of them asked, but she shook her head, refusing to follow them back to the palanquin. _

"_I will take my chances with the spirits," she told them in her own native tongue. Far away from her sisters, her mother and her father that sold her to this strange realm, she had no way to escape the arrangement that had been laid before her. She would rather have a moment for herself and be punished by whatever spirit that would bring it to her than to spend the rest of her life locked up in a gilded cage. _

_Without any further words to anyone else, she took off her shoes, left them with her maids and traipsed along the riverbank until she could no longer hear the sounds of their campsite being made. "Wherever you go, always remember that your home is always with you," her mother told her, and she was beginning to think that her mother was right. The same moon was peeking from behind the clouds, eagerly waiting for the sun to set so that it could come out and play, while there were a few otters diving and surfacing with tiny fishes in their paws. _

_Finding a relatively shallow place, she stepped into the water, and closed her eyes. The water was cold, but not so cold that she could bear standing in it for a little while more. She did not care that a few inches of her dress was already wet, she could give less a damn about it although her maids would sure scold her because they were sure that she was bound to catch a cold like this. _

_She took a deep breath and sighed. This moment of freedom would not last long. In the morning, she would have to continue her journey, and she would be the bride she was ordered to be, for the peace between two realms. _

"_Who are you and what are you doing in my father's river?" a masculine voice asked her. It shocked her so much that she did not dare to turn towards the owner to the voice at all. "Are you deaf or are you mute?" the man asked her again, "Answer me!"_

_She should have bolted and run towards her entourage, but she knew that it was already too late. Whoever that man was, she had been caught trespassing his father's river… "Now just you wait a minute," she turned towards the man, unable to see his face due to their difference in height. "This river belongs to all, not just your father." _

_And when she looked up towards him, she was ultimately shocked to see his face. In no way was he possibly human, not with that smooth, white complexion of his and those angular emerald eyes. His expression was stern, and in one hand, he held a magnificent broadsword that could have won the allegiance of many villages from where she came from. _

"_Do you not know who my father is, human?" he asked her, looking at her coldly. "He is the King of the Carp-Spirits and is the God of this river…" He half expected her to immediately grovel before him like all the other Spirits, but this young woman, little older than a girl, showed no such inclination. In fact, she closed her mouth and started to laugh uncontrollably. "What is so funny?"_

"_Just a few minutes ago, my guide told me that your family resided here," she answered truthfully. "I thought that he was only trying to stop me from escaping…" Her defiant air had gone by then, replaced by one of slight melancholy, and in turn, it piqued his curiosity. _

_A woman as beautiful as she was should not be sad at all, that much he knew. "Why would you want to escape?" he asked her. There were rumors that the warrior-races to the north of their group of islands were mighty and tall, what did they have to fear so much that they would send such a splendid daughter of theirs to this part of the world?_

"_My father gave me to the local warlord's son in return for a treaty of peace," she answered. "I am to be the first of his many wives." Her words made him cringe. Mortal men were disgusting creatures. They were not satisfied with only one wife, and had to have many more, just as they demanded more sons from their plentiful number of wives. Were daughters not just as treasured? He was lucky that his father treasured himself and his siblings all the same…_

"_Come, tell me your tale," he said to her, "And perhaps I will think to spare your life."

* * *

_

Chihiro smiled as she read the narration of the tale with Haku. She had been the daughter of a pre-Slavic warrior-chieftain, while Haku was the oldest son of the King of the Carps… They had met at the river where his father had ruled and protected the humans, and from then on, he had taken an interest to her and decided to escort her along her journey.

"Well then, we can safely conclude that I was a fool all those years ago," Haku concluded, taking the time to nuzzle Chihiro's ear. "Imagine how it would have been if I tried to kill you when you were ten years old…" He was teasing her, and she knew it more than anything. "Perhaps losing my memory of the past was not such a bad thing after all…"

"Haku, just shut up and read," Chihiro chided, her face getting redder by the moment.

* * *

"_Watch out!" he cried out when the arrow was about to pierce through her heart. They were in the very heart of bandit-country, and as expected, they were under attack. He raised his broadsword to try to cut the arrow in time, for his reflexes had been thousands of times faster than that of mere humans, but before he was even able to reach the arrow, something happened. Her eyes became clouded, and she held her hand upright before her. _

_White light engulfed the whole area, and the arrow, as well as the man who fired it were immediately engulfed in flames. The men assigned to protect her all dropped her weapons in awe, while her maids just screamed in fear. Only he remained calm, as he always was, quickly digging through the reserves of information of his schooling, trying to find an answer. "Light…" he recalled, and knew immediately what she was, as if her gold eyes had not been an immediate giveaway. _

_And she did not understand fully at all. He knew that after such a great show of power, other Spirits would come hunting for her, and there would be no doubt that she would be in grave danger. "What am I, Haku?" she asked him, and he knew that he could not withhold the truth from her, not when she was pleading him with such eyes. _

"_You are Light itself in human form," he told her, hands squeezing her shoulders gently. "Your blood holds power greater than any other, and you are in grave danger now."

* * *

_

Haku remembered now, the battles, the endless running, and the underwater palace which had been his father's home. He had been ordered by his father to give her up, to allow the King to obtain the power that she possessed, but he refused vehemently. He remembered that the King had asked him why he was not willing to obey the commands given to him, and it was answered in three words, three blunt words that pushed father and son apart, and destroyed the ruling dynasty of the Carps.

* * *

He loved her.

* * *

His father had openly exiled him as his heir, but declared no other heir. He would not kill his own father, but he would not continue to stay in that palace any longer. Thus, he bid farewell to his mother and sisters, as well as his younger brothers and left with her.

Always, he had thought himself to be alone in the world. He thought himself to be a being just created by Nature, designed to be the God of a river, to protect the ecology there, as well as the humans that offered him incense and their faith. He had always been a Dragon, and even had his own treasure-hoard (a habit learned from the Western, fire-breathing Dragons), his memories of the past sealed until a small girl lost her shoe in the currents of his river.

He remembered how that small girl shouted in dismay as he felt a strange, foreign object floating upon the surface of his domain. And when she entered the river, he felt a deep amount of power, power that had been so familiar to him. He knew that the child could not swim, and he took corporal form as a Dragon, and gently lifted her to the riverbank along with her shoe…

* * *

"_I do not wish to run any longer, Haku!" she told him one stormy night. "Why can I not just kill every single one of them that tries to kill me?" _

"_Because this will never end the cycle, my love," he told her. "So long as the Dragon Gate exists, so will the pull of your power exist. They will never stop hunting you until the stone chalice is destroyed."

* * *

_

"We were outnumbered," Chihiro said, as if she was waking from a dream. "I was so afraid for you… so I decided to give you my blood…"

Haku nodded. "And that is how I became a Dragon, renewed and reborn…" He was about to embrace her, but the sound of a cold, familiar laughter could be heard.

"And that is why they say the blood of Light brings infinite power," the Carp said, revealing himself from the shadows. "A Dragon is able to change the very essence of its being. And Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, a Carp-Prince who received the blood of the Light was torn from his river, the very core of his being , and was able to survive, unlike other Gods. When the waters of his river were mixed with that of my lake, they infected mine and my own like a cancer, and from a River-God, he became a Lake-God. Is that not fascinating?"

The Carp opened his outer robes, and showed them the scales that had deteriorated, and were falling off his body. Raw skin could be seen in patches, a sight that could be akin to the sight of a human suffering from leprosy. "This is what you have done to me," he shouted at Haku, "And for penance, you will watch your beloved die at the Dragon's Gate once again!"

* * *

HAN: OOOOO, what's gonna happen? Tell me what you think! Thanks for reading! ^.^


	12. The Escape

It was Chihiro, not Haku who unsheathed his broadsword, and Chihiro, not Haku that pointed the weapon against her enemy, ready to defend herself when he would attack her. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," she told him. "If you attacked me, you would most certainly have injured me and I won't be any use to anyone right now." Her brown eyes threatened war, and being the one blessed by the Light, her anger would be terrifying.

However, the decaying Carp did not flinch at all. "You know, my dear girl, those old superstitions do not apply any more, am I not correct?" he asked her. "Unlike most of the Spirits that you might know, and perhaps even that Dragon who claims to love you, I happen to know a little about human biology. Forgive me if I sound crude, but, do you not bleed every now and then, as a female of your race?"

She had to give him one thing, that Carp was good in his research. It also meant that she no longer would have any advantage above anyone who wanted her dead. It was not a good situation, not a good one at all. They were in a library for Heaven's sakes, how were they supposed to get out?

* * *

_Let your heart guide you to what you seek

* * *

_

Those words sewn onto the tapestry in front of the library was enough to inspire a brilliant idea in the young woman, and without wasting a second further, she hacked at the arm of the Carp (who was in his human-like form at the time), and started to run in the opposite direction with Haku immediately behind her.

"Chihiro, where are we going?" Haku asked, looking back at the Carp, who was now nursing the great gash that he was sporting, as Chihiro returned him his weapon. Judging by his injury and the abilities of the Carp, he knew that it would not be long before their enemy would have caught up with them. And, due to the sheer concentration of bookshelves and staircases around them, it would not do them any good for him to fly their way around with Chihiro on his back.

"We're finding another way out," she answered, stopping only for a moment to decide which turning she should take. She was sure that they were soon approaching the western walls of the library, because she could hear the sounds of the train from afar. In her time in the bathhouse as a child, she and Rin shared a room with the other female workers in the western face of the bathhouse, and it would be there that they will find their exit. "The door's most likely concealed, to act as an emergency escape and also to prevent anyone from sneaking anything out…"

It was not herself talking, but the inspiration that came with the energies of the library, not that any one of them would like to complain about that. However, it was more than enough proof to Haku that she was more than just a human, bound with limitless power or not, and that she belonged to his world, the world they were currently in, just as he had belonged to hers as a guardian and a God.

About ten minutes later, they reached the western walls, but found nothing but windows from end to end. "I don't understand…" she sighed, looking towards Haku, and back at the walls. "There should have been a…"

"Perhaps, my love, it is time to improvise," Haku interjected, and held Chihiro by her waist. With his sword, he broke the ornate glass windows before them and leapt out before warning her to hold onto him as tightly as she could. There was not much distance between their current altitude and the train-tracks below them, and Chihiro prayed that Haku was able take his Dragon's form before they hit the tracks or the freezing water below them. And thankfully for her, he did not disappoint at all.

Just several meters above the surface of the great lake, they were covered in a shower of pinkish-white scales, and once again, she was upon Haku's back, holding on to his antlers as he began to climb higher into the skies. "Where are we going to?" she asked him, but before he could even answer, they were stopped by a bolt of lightning that cracked right before their eyes.

There was no doubt that the Carp was able to follow them, and when Chihiro removed her arm that she used in vain to shield her eyes from the blinding light of the lightning, she saw the Carp standing right before them in mid-air. Haku delivered a great roar and swiped at him with his sharp talons, but the attack was evaded by the Carp by use of his own broadsword.

Of course, the strategy at the moment was not to take the opponent out by the use of magic and the other powers that they possessed. The former would take too much time, and thus, it was down to the age-old duel of skill, complemented with brains and brawn. And this was where Haku, despite his immense power and dexterity, was slightly on the losing end.

Haku was young, and even if he was over five thousand years old, in all technicality, and due to his physical rebirth and rejuvenation at the end of Chihiro's previous incarnation, he was in every sense of the word, little more than a boy. Whatever experience that he could have all those long years ago, had been negated. However, it did not mean that he was any less a fighter.

As all warriors knew, Haku realized that it was of utmost importance that he drew the Carp as far away from the water as possible, because as with all water-bound Spirits, the Carp would be able to heal from whatever injuries that he would sustain, thus, negating the wound that Chihiro had dealt upon his sword-hand.

His mission now was to gain altitude, and to gain it fast. Dragons were not only bound to water, they were bound to the skies as well, and that was where he could gain the advantage. Many blows were exchanged between Carp and Dragon as they soared higher and higher into the clouds, with Chihiro helping Haku out whenever she could with his broadsword that he had thrust into her hands just before they flew out of the window.

* * *

"Haku…" she stuttered out of a sudden, when they were so high up that the air was cold and frigid, where the plains below them, nothing but little squares of green. "I can't breathe…" He had forgotten that she was human, and that humans could not breathe after a certain altitude, and left with no choice, the Dragon descended, which both astonished and pleased the Carp.

This boy was different from how the Tortoise had described to him, and how he had known him through hearsay. The apprentice of Yubaba was a cold figure, ruthless and without a conscience, the rumors sounded about a decade ago, and whatever the Witch wanted, the Dragon would see it done. But now, the youth would even sacrifice any chance of victory for the welfare of the one he loved… it was admirable, although it was futile.

"Your compassion is great, boy," the Carp said, appearing before Haku's snout. Acrobatic, showy attacks would not work with this pair. He needed a direct move, one that could not be blocked or parried at this range. The girl was barely recovering from her bout of breathlessness mere moments ago, and he knew that it was the time to strike.

Dragons, in the Spirit-Realm, were on top of the food-chain, back in their more… animalistic days. They were masters of the water and the skies, and no one dared to challenge them. The Carp used this common fact to his gain, and lunged his sword onto the young Dragon's right shoulder, an aerial attack. The cut was so deep that even the bones of the young Dragon could be seen, the new wound glistening immediately with blood as red as rubies from the center of the earth.

"Haku!" Chihiro shouted as the boy roared in pain. They were losing altitude and they were losing it fast. She had to do something before the Carp was able to advance upon her, and waited until the blasted fish was near enough. Seconds later, the time to strike arrived, and she slashed the Carp across the chest, sending him plummeting down. "Haku, are you alright?"

The Dragon let out a low growl. _I will live, my love,_ his voice seeped into her mind. _How is the Carp, is he following us?_ Chihiro looked around them and shook her head. _Good… _He did not speak to her further, knowing that he must reserve what was left of his strength to bring them to safety. The Carp was old and sly, and he would most certainly appear wherever they least expected him to. The only thing they could do now was to return to his lake, where he could heal from his injuries.

He just hoped that they would arrive there before he bled to death.

* * *

"Quick, Haku-sama is returning!"

The aquatic spirits of Haku's lake were running hither and dither, eagerly preparing for their master's return. The God of the lake had a connection with those who gave him their allegiance, and they knew when exactly he would return to them and the lake's waters.

The fishes, the ducks, the frogs and even the resident swan that migrated there from Russia quickly ran into his palace to draw his bath and make sure that everything was spick and span, ready for him. In their hearts, they counted the seconds until their master would dive into the lake in the form of the elegant white Dragon that he was, greeting them with a stern smile.

So, it could be safely said that they were shocked to the end of their wits to find their Master bloodied and panting, in the likeness of a black-haired human youth with a strange woman by his side, holding his sacred weapon. "Haku… Haku!" the woman called his name to no avail, their master was going in and out of consciousness sooner than one could blink an eye.

"Quick, get the bandages," Mother Duck said to one of her daughters, but Haku held up his hand.

"No… take Chihiro and leave," Haku instructed, turning towards them. "Bring her to Zeniba's cottage… this is an… order…"

The human woman, apparently named Chihiro, was not so easily swayed. "I won't leave you, not when you're like this!" she exclaimed, clinging onto their master all the more. There were tears in her eyes, and his blood was all over her hands and face. "You've given everything to protect me, I can't abandon you!"

Haku coughed, but opened his eyes, and held his hand to the back of her head. "My love, you have done more than enough to aid me," he said to her. "Your life means more than anything I hold dear, Chihiro. You must leave now. I will catch up with you."

"No, you won't!" she interrupted. She was crying, and the Spirits around them stood there, astounded. She took up the master's sword, and did the unthinkable.

She cut her palm, and drew the blood into her mouth. Through a kiss, she passed her own blood to the Master, and even smeared some on his injured shoulder… What was the girl doing? What good would any human blood do to help their master, a Dragon and a God?

"Look, mama, look!" Mother Duck's daughter shouted, when bright light started to envelope their master. It was white, and it was blinding, so much so that none of them could open their eyes in a long while, but when the light had subsided, they were all amazed and awed.

Something had happened, and their master was well again. "My love…" their master said to the human, and quickly enveloped her in his arms. It was a touching moment indeed. "Once again you have saved me, once again you have proven that I owe everything I have to you."

And then, it was clear to the other Spirits that called Haku's lake their home. The woman in question was none other than Ogino Chihiro, the one who dared to challenge the great Witch Yubaba, and won, and the one who held their master's heart, for although he never once revealed it, they could sense it from him, and from the waters that they called their home.

* * *

HAN: And how did you like this chapter? Now, for review replies.

Capital E: I never said that I was above anything of my basest qualities (ie, LOTR-super nerd), ahahahaha ^.^ YOU were the one who gave me free rein in this challenge, so live with it. As for Haku's "Western"-ness, I would think that it is his current personlity, ie, the one we all know, merging with that of his past, which Miyazaki does not have any clue of, MUAHAHAHA. Doncha think? I'll "belanja" (treat) you whatever you wish if you can spot something from one of my favorite anime here! ^.^

Epsilon Team Captain Handle: Well, that's for you to find out and me to figure out, aahahahaha.

Well guys, thanks for reading and enjoying this fic so far! I really did not know that I could drag it to this length, and I think we've only passed the halfway mark. Hopefully, it is not so, as I plan to finish this fic as soon as the coming Monday. But by the looks of it, I think that it's a little impossible. We'll see, will we not?


	13. The Decision

"Come now, my Lady," Mother Duck said to Chihiro, fussing about the young woman as the matronly spirit circled her again and again, as if she was a vulture and not a duck at all, ready to close in on a dead carcass underneath the scorching desert sun. Haku would have laughed greatly at her mental analogy, but he was busy with Mother Duck's daughters, trying to fend them off as they decided to prescribe him medications for his battle-wounds no matter what he told them. "Surely with the severity of the duel that you and the master have found yourselves in, you must have injured yourself? It does not do you well to sit upon such pride…"

"I'm not injured!" Chihiro rebuked, saying those words at the top of her lungs. Mother Duck moved away from her in a slight little jump and she apologized profusely after that. "I'm sorry but… Mother Duck, I know when I'm injured and when I'm fine…"

Mother Duck sighed. "I suppose that you are right, my Lady," she said, and received a raised eyebrow from Chihiro. "You are Haku-sama's woman, aren't you? Every single one of us can see that he loves you above all else, as much as he needs the waters of this lake and the prayers of the humans to survive. So quite naturally, you are our mistress as well, whether or not you're a human."

Chihiro sighed. "If only things were that easy," she told Mother Duck. There was not a single doubt that when she healed Haku with her powers, she had proclaimed herself as what the Spirits called as the "Human Personification of the Light", whatever that meant. However, she did prove to herself and others that her blood did contain powerful properties… "Why am I here anyways? Why does the Earth need to regurgitate someone like me every five thousand years?"

"Perhaps I can offer you that answer," Mother Duck said, seating Chihiro onto the bed with an arm around her shoulder. "I may not be as powerful as the twin Witches, but I have seen my fair share of ups and downs in this world and yours." There was not anyone in the room but the two of them, and Mother Duck knew that she had wanted it that way. "You humans think that we Gods and Spirits are nothing but figments of your imagination, used to explain the phenomena of Nature, free from the worries of humanity, death and decay. But in truth, we carry out Nature's will, the rain, the sunshine, the tides of the sea, and even the courses of the river. Those who hold more power amongst us naturally hold greater responsibility, and in time, humans recognize who they are, although they cannot see or touch them. And when humans start to believe in them, these spirits become even more powerful and they become Gods, bound to all that give them reason of being."

Chihiro, like her parents, and like most Japanese, were of the Shinto faith. They had their own Gods and other deities, but she could never remember Haku in the various mythologies of her race. However, she did remember the shrine at the far end of his river; well, when it was still a river. However, it was but a shrine, and she remembered nothing about the shrine being devoted to a Dragon of any sort.

That was when Mother Duck chuckled and explained, "Humans may worship a God and think that they take a certain form, but in all actuality, they are of another!" Well, now that she put it that way, Chihiro decided that it could be a rather plausible explanation. "And you, Chihiro-sama, you are not an anomaly of Nature, but a link between the world of the humans and ours…"

"But looking back," Chihiro interrupted with Mother Duck's permission, "All I've caused in your world is well, utter chaos and rampage." The memories of her previous lifetime surfaced again, and well, this one as well. "I don't want anyone to get hurt but…"

"Just like in your world, greed creates only one outcome, and that is grief," Mother Duck replied, as if it was the most natural thing in the world. "However, as we ourselves cannot explain why we are here, even though we can explain how we got here, the "why" is forever escaping us, you know?"

It was just something she had expected when talking to a Spirit. They never gave her a definite answer, be it Haku, Zeniba, Kamaji, or even Mother Duck whenever they gave her advice, or anything of the sort. "Thanks," she said to Mother Duck with a smile.

"It is nothing," the Duck-Spirit replied. "But since you returned to our world, Haku-sama has smiled more, and for that, all of us, here in this lake, are grateful that you came back. You have made him so happy, Chihiro-sama, and we thank you for it."

If it had been Haku that had said those words, Chihiro would have been touched, and she would have embraced him, as they have done countless times recently. But when those words came from people who knew Haku, those who cared for him, and not only because he was their master, the God of the Lake in which they resided in, she was utterly moved. She knew that the presence of humans were highly frowned upon in the world of the Spirits, and to have that kind of recognition from Haku's servants, that blessing was one that she knew she could not ask for if they would not give it to her.

"Thanks," she said, feeling a tear-drop coming down from her eye. However, it comforted her, somewhat, that the Chihiro that she had always known, the one who was mostly an incessant cry-baby, was still there.

"Come now, you silly child. You are soon to be the mistress of one of the most beautiful lakes of Japan," Mother Duck soothed, "You should be happy…" She knew that Chihiro was happy, it was all a tease, she could not resist it. "Now come, there are more important matters that you must discuss with Haku-sama, I believe, matters of great importance."

* * *

While Chihiro was being comforted by Mother Duck, the Ten-Thousand Year-Old Tortoise, however was not having a field day in Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi's palace. The Dragon was seated on his throne of white jade, and was glaring at the aged, wizened Tortoise. He was not pleased, that much the Tortoise could tell…

"Do you know who attacked Chihiro?" Haku asked him, his voice nothing but a low, menacing growl. The anger of a Dragon was not one to be taken lightly, especially a young one, when his moods could never be ascertained. The boy may have been a cold, emotionless servant of Yubaba a few years back, but with his memories returned to him, and with the several years under the service of him, the Tortoise knew that Haku was not very much of a patient being after all.

The Tortoise gulped. "Haku-sama… I do not dare to presume that I do not know who that person was…" he stuttered. He did not know that the Dragon could have cared so much for the girl, nor did he even realize that his master would go to such lengths to protect her at all. That injury that he had sported when he crashed onto the lake's shore was not a light one, and could have easily killed him if it had not been properly treated. Was it worth it, all for a girl, particularly when he had already benefited from her great gifts?

Haku stood up, and glared at the Tortoise. "And yet you sell the information regarding her location to that Carp, even after I have confided to you specifically what she means to me!" His voice was booming, and in his rage, the pillars of the palace actually shook, and the Tortoise had great reason to suspect that the entire lake was shaking as well.

There was no choice for him, but to kneel. "Haku-sama, please, forgive this old, senile soul!" he begged. "I have a wife, and hundreds of children and thousands of grandchildren!" The Tortoise was almost in tears now, and Haku struggled to determine whether or not it was the truth. However, Mother Ducked had warned him about Tortoises when this one had come to the lake from China, and she was right. Tortoises would do just everything for their own benefit…

Haku sighed. His theory had been proven correct. Through his memories, he did remember seeing a young Tortoise couple at the Dragon's Gate, and that they had been removed from the fight, and he knew that the male one was the one standing right before him. Only those who had been touched by the Light could pass her tale, and this Tortoise was no exception. Only he could have given information to the Carp regarding his past, as well as the location of the library-vault. This Tortoise was quite the opportunist, knowing that there was someone who was willing to buy the information that he would provide… Yes, it could be the only reason why the Carp, the Tortoise's former master could have been so interested in Chihiro. That blasted reptile must have calculated that she was to be reincarnated into her present form in recent years!

"I will pay you triple the price of whatever that beast as given you," the Dragon said after a long silence, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And when this is over, you will return to your family and never enter my domain again."

The Tortoise immediately dropped onto the glimmering floor of the palace and prostrated himself before Haku. "I thank you, Haku-sama, for your uttermost kindness and generosity!" he exclaimed, but was silenced by Haku yet again.

"And in return," Haku said, in his usual, stern manner. "I want you to show us the way to the Dragon's Gate, and how we can destroy it." A deep silence ensued. The Tortoise looked up at his master, and seemed hesitant for awhile. "What is it?" he pressed on. "Is my offer not good enough for you?"

The Tortoise did not speak, but seemed to be deep in thought. His brow was furrowed, and his lips quivering as though he wanted to say something, but decided against it. Soon, the old one began to pace about, shaking his head, muttering things that was unintelligible to the Dragon.

"Don't worry, just tell us what you need to," a female voice cut through the growing tension and the silence. Emerald eyes, sharper than knives, and the gaze of the Tortoise were then cast upon Chihiro, now dressed in a yukata that Mother Duck had assembled for her. "I'll deal with Haku, I promise."

"Chihiro-sama, it is not Haku-sama that I fear," the Tortoise replied with utmost reverence towards the young woman. "But, to my knowledge, the only way to destroy the Dragon's Gate that holds the stone chalice is to reverse what has been done there…"

Chihiro just blinked her eyes. For a moment then, she could not comprehend what the Tortoise has said. But Haku did. "Then it will be done," he decreed. "Just remember your part of your bargain, Tortoise, and you and your family shall not need to worry of the future."

The Tortoise bowed, and left the room. There was no need for him to witness what would follow. The human was not slow-witted, it was just the shock of his words not settling in her mind as soon as it would have been. The Dragon's Gate was named so because it was where perhaps more than one Dragon had come into form, the blood of the Light giving it power to withstand the test of time. It was also why many Spirits and Gods could have known about the Light-human, because that place most probably reeked of blood, and was simmering with all the powers of the world that one could only dream to behold. But if a Dragon could have given back the power granted by the Light, the stone chalice would crack, and it would be no more…

And if for future generations no word was said about the Light-human, then she would be safe for all eternity, safe for being hunted for what she should never have given to any single soul.

Haku's mind was already made. Chihiro would have no say in this, no matter how much he loved her.

* * *

HAN: OOOOO! And how did y'all like this little twist? ^.^

Thanks to all who reviewed so far, I really, really appreciate it! It keeps me going, no?


	14. The Rift

"The way to the Dragon's Gate is perilous, Haku-sama," the Tortoise warned Haku, dressed for battle as if he was ready for war, his broadsword hanging onto a belt at his left, while he carried Chihiro in his arms. He had cast a sleeping spell upon her as soon as she realized what he was about to do, and had quickly informed Zeniba about it. No response came from the Witch yet, but Haku knew that if she wanted to contact him, she could do so easily. The important thing now was to get Chihiro to the Dragon's Gate as quickly as possible, so that he could end everything, so that for once in many eons, Chihiro's soul would be able to rest from constant prosecution.

Haku looked at the Tortoise and nodded his head. "I will pay any price to complete this mission," he said, looking at Chihiro as he slept. "It is the only way I can repay her for all she has done to me." He knew that Chihiro would not agree with his decision, but he was adamant to see the Dragon's Gate destroyed. Even if he would die from whatever that may come, he wanted to leave whatever realm of existence he belonged into knowing that from then on, Chihiro would never have to suffer again, in this life or the next. "Chihiro has already given me two lifetimes of her love, I cannot ask more of her."

The Tortoise sighed. Young love was a beautiful thing. However, as beautiful as it was, there was no one to wise enough to say that it was sometimes foolish as well. "But Haku-sama, have you ever considered that as you have given your heart freely to Chihiro-sama, she has also done the same to you?" the Tortoise asked his master. "You say that you are sacrificing your life for her because you love her, but have you ever given a thought how she would live without you by her side?"

"What do you mean?" Haku asked, his eyebrow raised along with the tone of his voice.

"Chihiro-sama is the living personification of the Earth's bounties, and the reserves of her memories run deep. Once the defenses around her decay, she will receive the memories of the past. And what will happen to her, when she remembers you as the one who loved her so deeply for so long, and she knows that you are no longer there by her side?"

Haku did not answer that question, not because he did not wish to, but because he could not. And his silence already revealed how he had felt regarding this issue. "You are coming with me because you are to be my guide, and nothing more," he snarled at the Tortoise. It was a sign that he no longer wanted any form of input on that matter.

"Haku-sama," Mother Duck came before him and bowed deeply. "There is someone here to see you."

With that, Haku nodded and carried Chihiro out of his chambers, with the Tortoise and Mother Duck in tow. He was rather surprised to see No Face in the center of his audience chamber, a few steps away from his throne. "No Face, it is good to see you again, my friend," Haku greeted with the Spirit with a bow, and his gesture was returned. "Zeniba has sent you to aid us, has she not?"

No Face nodded. "Uh… uh," he said as he usually did, but those that had come to know him could translate those two meaningless sounds into almost full sentences, even Chihiro.

"It is good to know that you are here to protect Chihiro as well," Haku said, placing Chihiro into his able care. "Come, the day is growing old, and we must set out to the Dragon's Gate before that Carp does."

* * *

"Of all the times to be trekking up a mountain…" the Carp complained to none other to himself, trudging up the mountain path with his broadsword in tow while he picked off yet another falling scale from the skin of his neck. His days were now numbered, and he gave himself a good two weeks before he would really disappear from the world as a Spirit, and remain nothing but a useless, common carp, ready for the fisherman's net.

He was lucky, however, to discover that the two young lovebirds that had managed to wound him enough to stop him from pursuing them left the book that they had opened unlocked, there for all to see. If things went a little differently, he knew that his chase would end at the library, because when he closed the book, he could not even grasp what the book's riddle asked of it.

However, the strangest thing was that the Dragon's Gate was not in any location in the Spirit-World, no indeed. The Dragon's Gate was in the realm of the humans, in a "lexus of powerful energies, drawn from both worlds". In short, it was a Tamba region in Kyoto, a mountainous region known as the "Roof of Kyoto". In the very center of these mountains was a waterfall with sapphire waters known to have given birth to heroes of the human worlds, and also great warriors of the Spirits.

At the very top of the waterfall, would be the Dragon's Gate. It was a structure that could not be seen by common, mortal eyes, twenty feet in height, fifteen feet wide, complete with the stone chalice, large enough for a full-grown adult to bathe in it when it was filled with liquid.

The Dragon's Gate was powerful, as the Tortoise had described, due to the sheer amount of blood spilt there, the blood of the Light-blessed, in one incarnation after the other. Perhaps the construction of the Gate had not been on accident. On the contrary, the sheer drop of forty meters (about 130 feet) was just adequate for the realization of a Dragon's maiden flight…

The Carp was lucky that he was taking a path unused by the sheer amount of human tourists there, because his powers would not be adequate to mask his appearance more than to give himself human shape in his condition. "Just you wait, you insolent boy," he muttered, words that he hoped that the Dragon could hear.

* * *

"We will stop here for the night," Haku proclaimed, gently transferring Chihiro into his arms from No Face while the Tortoise and the former began to set up camp. The effects of the sleeping spell would soon wear off, and he knew that Chihiro would not like to know that she was hauled halfway up a mountain while she was asleep; much less the original intention for Haku to have done so was so that he could sacrifice his own life to save hers…

"Uh… uh…" No Face said to him, offering him a flask of water, which he accepted with a grateful nod. As those that did not belong in a different realm, their existence would be like Chihiro's coming into their own world. They would fade if they did not consume the food of that world (and had settled for edible mushrooms found on the mountain), and they would tire far quickly than they would have in their own realm.

The young woman woke not long after the Tortoise had started the fire, its warmth so enticing to her that Haku had moved her closer to the fire. "Haku…" she murmured his name, and soon enough, her brown eyes fluttered open. "Where am I?" she asked, her voice changing in tonality from being in a dreamlike state, to that of sudden realization.

"You are in the Roof of Kyoto, my love," Haku answered, placing them upon her feet. "We are already halfway there, and come morning, we will arrive there in time before that… fish… comes soon."

Her brown eyes were focused upon No Face and she ran over to greet him with a hug, followed by a nod of acknowledgement towards the Tortoise. "Thanks for coming," she told them, and she bowed her thanks to them. She fell silent, watching No Face as he grilled a few fishes for their dinner, something that Haku greatly appreciated.

"Soon, Chihiro," Haku said to her. "All of our troubles would be over."

"But at what cost?" she asked him, bringing her palm to his handsome face. "Haku, don't think I don't know why you made me sleep throughout the journey. I know what it takes to destroy the Dragon's Gate just as you do…" Her voice faltered, because she could not find any further words to say to him. She could not even comprehend the end of that path if they were to take it. But now, what choice did she have, when Haku had already made the decision even without consulting her?

Haku stood up, and looked away from her. "Then you will know that this is the only way I know of to save you," he replied, clenching his fists at his side. The pain of not being by her side if and when she needed him was already there in his heart, and he knew that if he faltered, then they would never be able to finish what they had started so many years ago.

"We can go far away from here," Chihiro suggested, walking towards him to face him. "Far enough where no one will know us but close enough to your lake!"

That was a tempting notion. To take her with into unknown lands, where they could be together without any fear of anyone… "My love… please," Haku pleaded, holding her close to him. "I need you to understand this. Once the Dragon's Gate is destroyed, you will never be hunted down. You will forever be in peace, in your lifetimes to come."

"What will that amount to when I'll spend all those lifetimes alone?" she asked him, tears now forming in her brown eyes as she cupped his face in her hands. "If I can remember our previous lives, I'll be able to remember this one as well! Don't leave me alone to face the ages of this world by myself… please…"

Haku knew that this was not because Chihiro feared for her life and needed his protection. He knew that this was not because she was so afraid of loneliness that she would not allow him to take the measures that he wished. "Chihiro, please do not make this any more difficult for the both of us…" he told her, knowing that No Face and the Tortoise were watching them intently.

"Is there no other way?" Chihiro asked again, pleading him to reconsider. She looked at Haku, but he gave no response. "No Face?" she asked her old friend, who shrugged and shook his head, as did the Tortoise. "Haku, I don't want to lose you…" Her slight fit of sadness had subsided, and she knew that there was nothing that she could do to change Haku's mind.

"You will not lose me," the Dragon reassured her, kissing her on the forehead. "No matter what happens, I will find my way back to you, I promise… You, my love, are the child of Fate herself. No mother would ever seek to forsake her own child." With his powerful arms around her waist, she was literally unable to resist him. "I beg you to have faith in me now as you always have. I will deliver you to safety, at all costs…"

She silenced him then and there, at first with a slim finger on his lips, and then her own, petal-colored ones. She loved him, just as he had loved her, and she wanted him safe, just as he wanted her to be. However, she was tired of being toyed around by the hand of fate. She no longer wanted to be tossed here and there, to walk where she was supposed to.

It was not long before he took the dominance of the kiss, and held her deeper in his arms. And that was when she knew she had the opportunity to strike. Here in the human realm, he would be almost as vulnerable as she had been in the spirit-realm…

"I'm sorry, Haku, but I can't let you take that risk, not for me…" she said, and looked towards No Face and the Tortoise. "Come on, guys, let's go."

* * *

HAN: Thanks for the reviews! This fic, as Captial E has stated, is coming to and end ^.^ YAY! This means more time for me to adjust to me Uni life. ^.^


	15. The Dragon's Gate

"I have to give it to you, Chihiro-sama," the Tortoise said to Chihiro as they trudged up the mountain with the same goal as they had set out the previous dawn. "You are one courageous soul, to even dare to strike a Dragon in such a manner, and Haku-sama, no less." To tell the truth, the Tortoise was more petrified than astounded when he saw Chihiro delivering a quick chop to the base of his neck while she was giving him the most passionate kiss that she could muster. Such an act had cemented into the Spirit's mind that the old adage that "hell hath no fury than a woman scorned" was right and true, no matter what age they lived in.

Chihiro cast a sideways look at Haku, unconscious, and being hauled over No Face's shoulder, and grimaced. She knew that she had no chance to turn the situation around without using some of her "womanly wiles", and thus, resorted to the tactic. And now, not only did she have to make sure that they got to the Dragon's Gate in time, she also had to find a way to stop all this, without anyone dying.

"Well, I think you'd do the same to your wife if she's on the way of sacrificing her life to you," Chihiro replied, renewing her focus on the mission. She really should have Haku gagged and bound as well, but she reckoned with No Face handling him, he would not be much of a problem at all, well, hopefully.

The Tortoise actually bellowed in laughter. "Actually, she'd bludgeon me with a frying pan before I could do anything, and demand that I think of the kids," he told her. "My youngest is only thirty years old, imagine that!"

"Uh… Uh…" No Face added, nodding enthusiastically. Looking behind him to check on his new charge, he did not mention a thing to Chihiro that Haku was already awake. The Dragon needed to hear what she had to say without any interruption on his part. The benign spirit was almost sure that the boy's stubbornness, which was so iconic of his kind, would be his ultimate bane.

* * *

The Carp had never seen such a strange little group before. With all his might and power, he had thought that the boy would send out massive armies to destroy the Dragon's Gate. Instead, he went there by himself, with the greedy (but knowledgeable) Tortoise, the girl, and a No Face. What made things even more unorthodox was that the girl actually had the Dragon rendered unconscious, and had the No Face carry him over his shoulder…

"If your youngest kid is only thirty years old," the girl said to the Tortoise, "then what about your grandchildren?"

The Tortoise scratched the underside of his chin and pondered about the answer for a little while. "I'd say my oldest grandchild is around two hundred years old, born just a few decades before the Meiji Restoration that one was," the Tortoise said. "My wife lays hundreds of eggs whenever she gives birth, so, I really have to come out with some sort of inventory, or I'll lose track of which is which!"

The girl laughed along with him. "You must be very happy then," she added, and the Tortoise nodded.

"However, they're a noisy bunch. In fact, they were so noisy that they drove me to the lake! I'll never get peace and quiet in my old home…" The Tortoise was about to continue his little story with the greatest smile upon his face. However, he sensed something that he knew was not another benign Spirit, or a wandering human that had lost his or her way. It was his former master, the Carp, dressed in the garb of an ancient Chinese official, as he always did, and was looking more dilapidated than ever.

"And have you not thought even once, that your life would even be more tiresome if you have no notion of loyalty, old one?" the Carp asked. The last time Chihiro had seen him, the scales on his arms were completely falling off. Now, it seemed that his situation was more dire, for his skin was peeling so much that he was bleeding in several patches on his face… This being would surely die soon if he was not assigned to a new body of water, or, receive a new source of power. "You told me that your clan was once the retainers of the Royal Family, and now, you tell your new mistress another tale…"

The Tortoise gulped. He hung his head low, knowing that he could never deny what he had done, but he knew a job was a job, and it remained that way. Haku had paid him a great sum of money to get to the Dragon's Gate and he would see that they would arrive there safely, even though he knew that the only advantage that he had against the Carp was his great age.

"Leave him alone!" Chihiro shouted towards the Carp. "I'm your real target, so fight like a man and try to kill me, why don't you?" She unsheathed her dagger and was ready to strike. She might have been utterly inexperienced in the field of battle, but she was able to draw from the memories of her past lives and use them to her advantage. She was sure that she was some kind of master with the dagger in her previous lifetime.

The Carp looked at her, and started to unsheathe his broadsword, and said, "You know, your deeds at the Aburaya were almost legendary. Some of us even speculated that you were another Spirit, hidden in the human world for so long that you yourself have become one of them…" He continued to observe her, this girl with the supposed iron will. And as he circled her, he knew that she was observing him, wondering what had happened to him…

"What are you?" she asked, her voice mixed with pity and confusion. It was a combination that he did not like. "Please, tell me why you need me to die so badly so that I can help you!"

Her supposed enemy looked at her directly and burst into a bout of uncontrollable laughter. "Child, the only way that you can help me is to die, I'm afraid," he answered her question. "However, if you can find a way to survive without huge amounts of blood in your system, you are welcome to try." Still, the girl remained in her resolve, and she continued to stare him down, her elegant dagger held upright, directly at him. "You have your Dragon to blame for this, you know. If he had not transferred the water of his river into my lake, this would not have happened."

And then, something within her snapped. "Haku didn't of anything to do with this!" she exclaimed. She was no longer calm, but still, the power that she held was great, and the Carp knew that if he attacked her now, there was a chance that he could not overpower her. "His river was drained off to build apartments! The humans who did it have no choice but to divert the water into your river!"

No matter, such a realization had no effect on the Carp whatsoever. "Whether or not if such an act was his doing does not matter now," he replied. "Only you can save me from my 'condition'. Perhaps then, we can work out our differences?"

Chihiro was sorely tempted to cut herself and be done with it. But she knew that it was not a solution that she could carry out. She loved Haku, and she had promised him that she would live to the end of her days by his side. It was a promise that she would fulfill no matter the cost. She was no longer a child; she knew that although death was ugly, it was necessary. But there came another paradox to her… Was the life of another worth the promise she had made to herself and the man she loved?

She had no time to think about it further. Just as she was about to initiate an attack towards the Carp, she heard the roar of a Dragon. Haku had awakened, and there would be no stopping him at all. He flew to her side and assumed his human-form, taking her hand in his. "You will not harm Chihiro as long as I am alive," he growled at the Carp. His emerald eyes that was filled with so much vehemence and anger started to glow, and when he looked at Chihiro, No Face and the Tortoise, they each began to be encased in a pink-ish purple bubble. To them, he nodded, and they started to run, making their way higher up the mountain path, making their way to the Dragon's Gate. "There is another way to settle this. If you defeat me in this challenge, the entire lake will be yours, and you will be its God."

The Carp looked at the young Dragon and readied his stance. "Is she really worth it, boy?" he asked Haku. "She is merely a human, her massive power notwithstanding. She will grow old, and she will die, reduced into nothing but ash and dust. And when she walks upon this earth again, it will be five thousand years later… That time frame is not a short one, even for us Spirits and Gods."

A smile broke through the Dragon's menacing demeanor. "I love her," he answered, and started his attack.

* * *

"There it is, the Dragon's Gate!" the Tortoise proclaimed when they got to the summit of the waterfall. The bubbles surrounding them had since disappeared, and Chihiro began to see memories of her lifetimes ago. All of them had ended in this particular spot; and in those lifetimes, she had either willingly gave her blood or had been forced to do so. And she swore never again would such a thing occur. She would no longer be the catalyst for bloodshed and strife. With all her power, she would stop the realm of the spirits become less than her own world, and she knew that she had to do it without herself or Haku dying as a price.

She walked over to the stone chalice, and cut her finger. A small drop of blood exited the wound and the chalice began to glow with a white light so brilliant that she was almost blinded by it. "I am truly blessed," the Tortoise said, "To have seen the Human of Light twice in my life…"

"This isn't going to end like the last time," she reassured the Tortoise, and looked towards the skies. Haku was still fighting with the Carp, the two of them soaring ever so high, but in the likeness of humans. Haku had learnt his mistake, knowing that the Carp could take advantage of his long but narrow form if he had fought as a Dragon. She closed her eyes, and started to search for an answer in the reserves of her memories. Surely, there could have been one time when she was this close to find a solution… It would take time, and she knew that the Tortoise and No Face would do their best to protect her.

"This is a waste of time!" the Carp bellowed, and dove straight towards the edge of the cliff where Chihiro was standing, left open for him. Usually, he would flinch at claiming such an easy target, but now, it was not the time for ethics. His survival depended on it. With all his might, he threw his broadsword straight towards her, and it hit her right in the center of her abdomen. She was bound to die, and he knew it.

"Chihiro!" the Dragon shouted and disregarded him completely. Within seconds, the boy was at the human's side, and cradled her in his arms. Tears flew freely from his eyes, and the Carp knew that he too, would be unguarded from any kind of attack. Emotion was a deadly enemy at the battlefield…

* * *

However, something happened that he never did intend. The Dragon took up his own sword and cut himself. The very instant his own blood touched the stone chalice, it started to crack, but light engulfed the girl, brighter than the Sun itself. As a reaction, she tried to stand, and started to fill the chalice with her own blood as well…

"They're combining their blood as one!" the Tortoise shouted. It was highly obvious, that the Carp knew, but what could they achieve from doing such a thing?

Such an act had never been done before. What could they achieve from this? Surely, both of them would die, needlessly as well? But one thing remained certain. If the human did not direct her blood to him, the Carp was surely dead. He had gone through everything for nothing, and it was too late to reverse the cycle…

The Dragon and the girl already lay dead, side by side one another. Their features were serene, and beautiful, and the Carp knew that his time was up. To die a warrior's death, he took the girl's dagger and plunged it into his own heart.

* * *

HAN: A cliffhanger, MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I promise you (and myself) that this will be the second last chapter. Don't worry. It will be a happy ending, I promise! ^.^ Thanks for all the reviews!


	16. The Ending

"You have done well, my beloved daughter…"

* * *

That voice… she had not heard it before. It was so soft, so melodious, but it carried a form of iron in it, one that told anyone who heard it that the owner of the voice was not to be trifled with…

She shot open her honey-colored eyes.

She was in a meadow of flowers as far as the eyes could see, and right before was a woman more beautiful than any other than she had seen. Her black hair had a certain blue sheen to it, while her eyes, they were the color of the grey morning… In her fiery red robes, this woman was immediately recognized to be a figure authority, a woman to be obeyed completely. Knowing this, Chihiro stopped herself from staring further at the woman and bowed her head.

The woman chuckled. "There is no need for such formality between you and I, child," she told Chihiro, tipped her chin so that she could have a good look at her. "I do not recall willing you to be so beautiful in this lifetime… But perhaps what I am seeing now is not born; the beauty that you have now has been gained, through all the hardships that you have faced…"

Chihiro felt the woman's finger upon her forehead, and she began to see all those memories of her current lifetime. She saw herself almost drowning in Haku's (former) river, her parents turning into pigs… She saw herself and Rin cleaning the biggest tub in the bathhouse, and Haku being attacked by the paper shikigami Zeniba had sent to retaliate against his theft of her golden seal… Tears started to form as she relieved every moment of her past, those moments that had been nothing more than memories, and those that had just happened… She saw herself and Haku make the promise to meet each other again, and she saw them fulfilling their promise in the direst of circumstances…

"Strange, is it not?" the woman asked her. "It is not the most painful memories that brings us tears, but those of happiness and of joy…" She put her arms around her, and hugged her, just as a mother would hug a child. "I have not been kind to you at all, my own darling, I know… But your existence is crucial to the survival of this Earth, not because you are a magnificent store of power to humankind and Spirit alike, but because you are born to be a bridge between the two worlds… But you already know that, do you not?"

Chihiro nodded. It was something that everyone around her had been telling her again and again, but she felt that there was something more… Something that she had never discovered before, but had always been there, taken for granted by anyone and everyone… She was there to become a bridge, but why would anyone need a bridge such as her… Why was it so important to link the two worlds together, when one realm is immortal, and one is mortal, always decaying, and always changing, although in tangible ways… The Spirit-world, however, never changed. It was always constant, set in its ways… "What is the realm of the Spirits?" she asked the woman, whose expression immediately brightened upon her question.

"Once again, your talents have shown through," the woman told her. "But in essence, I think you already know what it is, you just cannot name it. You have seen many spirits throughout your trials in the bathhouse, and you know that there are several Spirits who govern a certain function…" It was only then when her words started to make sense, and her encounters with the various spirits. There were soot-balls that took care of the furnaces, Dragons like the old river-god and Haku that took care of the bodies of water, the Tortoise that had been an official archivist of the events of their world… She faintly remembered seeing a star, which Rin had indicated, with her golden hair and sapphire eyes…

"It is Nature," Chihiro answered, and the woman nodded, bursting into laughter so clear and thunderous that butterflies started to fly into the skies from the bosoms of the multi-colored flowers all about them.

The woman hugged her again, and said, "Yes, daughter, it is Nature. The flora and the fauna are all governed by the Spirits and the Gods, for it is through them that the wonders of this great Earth is being created. The Grand Canyon does not carve itself in a day, nor do the waters of the Nile knows their yearly course if they were not guided… However, there will be spirits who deliver their duties so mindlessly that it becomes a part of them, set in their ways, unable to change… That is why, after a certain amount of time, they will need some form of encouragement, and empowerment…"

"So I'm supposed to be their plaything?" Chihiro asked. She could not believe what she was hearing. It was as if she was born for no other purpose, but to send the spirits of the world right there to the Dragon's Gate to see who would receive a new set of powers to do their job better… She had lived, loved and lost so many times that she could not be bothered to count at all, and Haku… Haku had given his life to her to stop this. "Do you know how many die at the Dragon's Gate whenever I come along?"

The woman looked into her eyes, and nodded sadly. "They have brought this upon themselves," she answered. "You, my daughter, are a sacred being and even the smallest blessing of your blood, will renew and rejuvenate them… But they got too greedy, and constructed the Dragon's Gate, creating a class of Dragons free to destroy and decimate the world around them. Only one child, who has received this honor, had not followed the footsteps of his predecessors, and he will be greatly rewarded."

Haku… the woman was talking about Haku. He had given himself completely to become the God of his River, and when the waters of the Kohaku River had been drained and diverted, it caused him so much trauma that his memories of his current life were sealed, much less those that had been locked deep into his mind of the years when he was still a Prince of the Carps… And now, as the God of the lake he currently governed, the lake prospered so much that both the Spirit and the human worlds benefited greatly from its beauty and its bounty.

"Yes, I speak of the one who holds your heart, and vice versa," the woman added. "Is it not extraordinary that the two of you always manage to find one another? He was a Prince in your previous lifetime, and you, a daughter of a war-chief of a race now known to be the ancestors of the Slavic races, and now, he is a Dragon who had saved you in your childhood, and aided you once again when you entered the Spirit-realm for the first time… Did you know that in yet another incarnation, he was a scholarly-spirit who overlooked the beginnings of music, while you, you were the first maiden who ever sang to a lyre's tune… Shall I mention more?"

* * *

_I was bound to you then, as I am bound to you now.

* * *

_

When Haku had told her those words, did he know that their history together went further than two lifetimes?

"Haku…" she murmured his name, the shortened version of the name that she had always known. She remembered the very instant that sword entered her body, he flew towards her and bled himself, so that whatever gifts he had received from her five thousand years ago could be returned… She did not know if it worked, but once again, he gave her his life to protect her…

As fresh tears clouded her vision once again, Chihiro felt the familiar sensation of great warmth and a steady heartbeat approach her. Powerful arms encircled her waist, and she felt a sculpted chin resting over her shoulder… "My love," a voice she knew whispered into her ear.

It was Haku, it really was Haku!

Chihiro completely disregarded the woman, and turned towards him. There he was, Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, the Dragon, no, the being that she loved, not only in this lifetime, but in their countless ones before this… But why… why must they be parted, every five thousand years? Could they not just live in peace? A wordless answer crept into Chihiro's mind, and she knew that he had loved her so much that whenever she had passed on, he would any shred of will to live, so that he might join her again in another lifetime…

"Haku!" she cried into his shoulder, and he held her as he always would, stroking her long hair, whispering more sweet nothings to her, a gesture that he knew, comforted her more than anything in the world. She clung onto him with every fiber of her being, and braced herself as he met his lips with hers. It was a kiss sweeter than any she had experienced, one of reunion, one of joy, and freedom… "Thank you," she said to him while he kissed away her tears of joy, "for everything."

As per usual fashion, Haku said nothing, but nodded and smiled. Now that they were reunited with one another, nothing else really mattered. The world could go to flame and ash, and he would not give a damn about it. Why did Fate have to be so cruel, to keep parting them just after they had found one another?

"Now hold on just a moment, Dragon," the woman said, interrupting their moment together. "Who gave you the right to even think such thoughts about me?"

Haku blinked. For a moment there, he completely did not know what to do. As a powerful Dragon, he was naturally immune to any telepathic attempt to enter his mind, but who was that woman that she was able not only to get past his so-called inborn defenses, but also take offense in a metaphorical jab at a metaphorical entity… Unless… "You," he said, turning towards the woman. "You are Fate…"

The woman laughed at his words. It was an answer that none of them had expected at all… "Yes, you are right, my son," she told Haku. "I am indeed Fate, as you would call me, the Force, the Great Mother, and all those things humans and Spirits would like to call me these days."

Generally such a response would have garnered utter compliance, but not from Haku, never from Haku. Instead, he unsheathed his broadsword and pointed it towards her. "Then I plead you to remove the curse you placed upon us," he snarled, knowing that it was not only futile, but also sacrilege to act like he did towards so powerful an entity. "We are not your playthings, to place here and there at your beck and call…"

The woman only walked closer to him and reached out to him. "I understand your pain," she told him. "Really, I do. But such is the function of my daughter that she can never remain for too long in this world, even if the lifetime of a human is only so short and fleeting."

"Then why us?" he asked her. If she was Fate, surely, she could have done something about it, to perhaps give them a chance when they could remain with one another for longer, to actually have a time when he could watch her live through the end of her days in peace… He did not ask for much, not even to be blessed with one or two children by her, just to be with her, more than the time allotted to them both. "If you love us so, why tear us apart as you have?"

Chihiro was silent. For her, she was already resigned to her own mortality. She had always been a human, she had always known that her days upon this world, no matter how beautiful, no matter how she was loved and had loved, would only be temporary. "Haku…" she soothed the Dragon that still held her, adamant in keeping her by his side. She was tired as well, to run and hide from those who wanted her blood, tired from living through everything again, tired from…

"It is so because even the energies of the world in excess would dissipate sooner or later," Fate answered Haku. "Every five thousand years, the world renews itself, and if it ceases thus, even you Gods and Spirits will grow old and pass into nothingness like the humans."

So, this was the answer to all the riddles. The reason why Chihiro exists and the reason why she was here in the very world. How she was able to "touch" all those Spirits, giving them hope and change when they needed, and her love, when she was loved in return.

"Thank you," Chihiro bowed towards Fate after pulling away from Haku in the gentlest manner possible. She was no longer crying, that time of utter joy had passed (for not all tears were associated with grief), nor was she… discontent with what she had to put up with any longer. She knew what her responsibilities were now, and if… she was truly dead, she would willingly go where she needed to go.

"And where are you going, daughter?" Fate asked her with the most radiant smile she had ever seen, stopping her in mid-thought. "Why would you leave your beloved Dragon after all you have gone through in time immemorial?"

It was not a question. That much Chihiro understood. After hearing those words, she ran back into Haku's arms. Finally, a lifetime to be with Haku, no longer filled with bloodshed, no longer with the threat of death so imminent…

Fate's smile continued even as she gathered both of them in a maternal embrace. "By destroying the Dragon's Gate, you both deserve what little time you have left with one another," she told them. "I promise you that your days will be worth your while from now on."

"I will hold you to your promise," Haku said, kissing the top of Chihiro's head. "Now, I plead you, return us to the world of the living."

* * *

They said the love of a Dragon was so strong that it transcends even time itself. Once a Dragon loves a soul, it does not let go, not even when they were parted by Death itself. They said that if one had the love of a Dragon, one never could really die, and would forever remain in memory, living through the Dragon itself…

But this Dragon knew that he would be more fortunate than all other Dragons who fell in love with mortal humans, whose lifetimes are so short that they resemble placing one's footsteps into the sea-washed beaches. With every step they went forward, but with each passing moment, the sea washes them away…

As he interred his beloved into the grave that she herself had chosen after a lifetime of such joy and happiness, right beside the tunnel that led to the Aburaya Bathhouse, witnessed by those who had been touched by her presence, all those who would remember her as a feisty child that dared defy a Witch, that dared to love a Dragon in return, and again, as a woman who overcame all odds to fight against the current of destiny and succeeded, Haku knew that death was not an ending, it was only a beginning…

"I will meet you again, my love," he said to her grave when it was filled. His hand glowed in a sort of gold light, and soon, a shoot sprouted beside the marker of the final resting place of her current incarnation. The shoot's leaves were green on the surface, but underneath, they were silver. This shoot would soon grow into a tree, and it would guard her, one that he had willed into existence because she had once told him that it was one of the favorite things from a series of books she so loved. In the autumn, the leaves would turn gold, and in Spring, golden flowers would appear as well… "I will return when this tree towers all others, even in a forest as dark as this."

* * *

She knew this place… She knew it like the back of her hand… But why, and how, she could never comprehend, because she had never came here before… There was something about this place, something that called her name, and she wanted to find out what it was.

She walked through the forested path, finding nothing, but the pull from whatever was in front of her to be so strong that she could not help but to venture further. And thus she walked, and she walked further forwards until she came by a magnificent tree, so tall that it must have been able to reach the sun. Its leaves, they remained on the tree even though it was already winter, and the bark was white and smooth, like pearls…

To the right of the tree was a red structure that reminded her of architecture of thousands and thousands years past, back when that country had been a great economic power, back when it's ancient pride was not forgotten… A glimmer of light caught her eye, and her gaze was turned towards the tree, or rather, something below it… It was a tombstone.

It was written in a language she could not decipher, perhaps one used by the ancients who once walked this earth, but she had no chance to wonder more about it. She had felt a strange presence, one that made her heart go aflutter with no particular reason…

It was a man, tall and broad-shouldered, handsome beyond measure. His hair was black, but seemed to have an olive hue to it when it reflected the golden light of the leaves above them… He was robed in blue and white, something that she seemed to remember. "Welcome home, my love," he said to her, with an open smile, emerald eyes sparkling…

And in that moment and time, she heard yet another voice. "Sa i meleth amlug," the female voice chuckled and disappeared entirely.

For the longest time, she looked at the man, not knowing who he was. He seemed so familiar to her, even though she had never seen him before until now. A name… He had to have a name… Yes, everyone has a name…

She uttered the first one that came to her mind, and when it reverberated in her mind, she knew that she could not make a mistake at all.

"Haku," she called him, and he drew her into her arms as a response.

Who needed the love of a Dragon, when that Dragon had the love of a woman, bound to him as he had been to her, across time and even lifetimes?

* * *

HAN: AAAHHH! It's finally done! Yay! I really hope that you liked the ending?

A great thanks to all who read and reviewed this fic, and I have to say, it was a fun challenge, Capital E. I even managed to do it with 14 chapters to spare!

Now, all there's left to do is to give this little ficcie one final review, and hope that Miyazaki chances across this and turns this into the sequel. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! ^.^

Stay happy and healthy, y'all!


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